Arts of the Ocean
by kage karasu
Summary: Once again, the Straw Hats have disembarked on a new island, and a new adventure. However, what they don't know is how adventurous things are really going to get. Pairings LuNa, ZoRo
1. Chapter 1: New Island

**Arts of the Ocean**

**Disclaimer; I do not own One Piece…it belongs to the great Oda sensei!! **

**New Island**

It was a perfect day on the Grand Line. The bright source of light and heat that was flaming in the sky as if it owned the day was happily warming the sparkling blue-green waves of the vast ocean. Only a few white puffs of cloud could be seen floating aimlessly in the scroll of clear blue. Through this joyance atmosphere, a certain ship was sailing, its sail spread out, riding on the mild tail wind that was slowly but surly taking them to their next adventure, the next island.

The ship called the Thousand Sunny was sailing merrily through these waters, directed by an orange-haired navigator who seemed to be happy about the weather conditions of that day as she calmly worked on one of her superb maps and kept watch for any changes in the climate. The ship's sharpshooter was in the middle of conducting an experiment with a new gadget that he had created while being watched with amazement by the young doctor. Just then, the cyborg shipwright walked out onto the deck to join the doctor in watching what the sharpshooter was doing. Over to the end of the deck, a cook with his eyes in the shape of hearts, along with the heart-shaped smoke that issued out of his cigarette, was serving a raven-haired archaeologist who was sitting on her deck-chair reading a book, a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Up in the crows nest, a snore could be heard from a swordsman who was supposedly keeping watch for any upcoming island.

The only person that had any complaints of that day was a certain captain who was bored out of his wits at the lack of excitement that was going on.

"Hey, Nami! When are we gonna get there?" Luffy asked the navigator for the ten hundredth time.

"In three hours…" Nami answered trying not to loose her temper.

"But you said that four hours ago!" Luffy whined. The navigator's palm slapped him upside his head.

"For the last time… I'm trying to concentrate here!" she shouted at him. Luffy walked away from the girl defeated as he decided to see what Usopp, Chopper and Franky were up to.

"Man…this is boring…" Luffy muttered to himself as he walked towards the center of the ship where Usopp was showing Franky how to use the dials that they had collected from Skypiea. Then, just as Luffy reached the three, a voice shouted from the crows nest, "Land ahead!"

Immediately, an excited captain bolted over to the front of the ship followed by the doctor, sharpshooter and shipwright. After a few seconds, the navigator rushed over as well.

"Finally!" sighed Nami as she pulled out her binoculars to scan the island with them.

"What do ya see?" Luffy asked eagerly.

Nami paused for a second and answered, "I can see a couple of houses on the coast line…there's probably a town somewhere in the middle of the island…"

"Do you see any sign of the marines?" Robin asked as she had just made her way over where the majority of the crew was standing. Nami looked back into her binoculars and shook her head.

"No, no sign of them…"

"Yeah!! A new island! Sanji!!! I'm hungry!" the captain called out across the ship to the cook.

"Me too!!" two voices that belonged to the long-nose sharpshooter and small reindeer doctor joined in.

"Fine, I'll make us all some lunch before we get to the island," Sanji answered as he walked off to the kitchen to prepare the food.

"Yoshi! Let's go!!" Luffy shouted with a big grin on his face. He was, however, stopped by Nami who had yanked on the back of his vest.

"Not so fast Captain," she said, growling at Luffy's impatience. "We don't know anything about this island yet so you can't just go running off!"

"Aww, Nami! Let go!" Luffy whined. Nami refused and turned back to the rest of the crew.

"So I think we should stay together until we find a town or something," the navigator continued on the conversation that had been going on before she had to prevent the ship's captain from leaving.

"That's probably a good idea" Sanji nodded in agreement. "Especially when you have certain crew mates that loose their way while following a straight line."

"What did you say!?" Zoro growled at him.

"You heard me marimo!"

"Shut up, dartboard-brow!"

Needless to say, their fight was soon put to an end by the fists of the annoyed navigator.

"Bye the way, who's going to watch the ship?" Usopp asked.

"First say, first serve," Franky laughed.

"I agree, good luck Usopp!" Nami said, letting go of Luffy's vest. Usopp's jaw dropped about twenty centimeters.

"What-what!!! Wait! There's probably giant monsters living on this island! Meat eaters! And I have a 'I must not stay on a ship alone' illness! And it's 'First come, first serve'!! Oi! Are you listening to me???" he yelled, to which no one responded.

"Oi, look everyone! A town," the excited captain shouted happily. It indeed was a town that was located right in the middle of the island. It wasn't very big, but even from a distance the pirates could see a couple of streets filled with people and houses and shops lined up against each other.

"Remember guys, no stealing food, no getting into fights or causing trouble or causing a scene," Nami reminded Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Franky sternly, a dangerous look in her eyes.

"You all got that?" she asked as if she were the commander of an army.

"Yes ma'am!" the four saluted. The seven pirates walked down to the town and entered on of the back streets so that they would be less conspicuous. It wasn't bad for a back street but there also wasn't as many shops or anything of interest to them.

"Namiiiiiiiiiii, can we go onto the main street now?" Luffy asked, eagerly.

Nami sighed and answered, "Fine, but lets split up…um, let's see…Franky, Chopper and Sanji, you guys go in one group, Zoro and Robin, you guys can go together and Luffy's staying with me so I can make sure he doesn't cause any trouble."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Luffy pouted.

"Nami-swan, don't you want me to come with you instead?" Sanji asked with hearts surrounding him.

"No Sanji-kun, I know you won't cause trouble…right?" she asked with a smile. The amounts of hearts surrounding the love-cook multiplied.

"Yes, Nami-swan!!"

"Idiot…" mutter the green-haired swordsman.

"What was that?!"

"Anyways," continued the navigator, "We can meet back here in two hours, okay, everyone's free to go." And with that, they all split up into the groups that had been assigned to them.

"Hey wait up Nami!" Luffy said running after her. Zoro and Robin only exchanged slightly awkward glances at each other and began to walk the other way to the main street.

"Hey Sanji, can we see if there's a book store here?" Chopper asked the cook.

"Yeah sure Chopper, but we have to go and get groceries too…"

Franky added, "Yeah and I have to go and get some supplies for the ship."

"Hey Nami, I'm hungry!" a very predictable captain told his navigator.

"Actually, come to think about it, I am too," Nami replied her stomach growling. "Is there a restaurant around here?" The captain and the navigator looked around for a place where they could get some food. However in there search, something happened that made Nami think that Luffy had left her side for a split second.

"HEY! CATCH THAT FOOD CROOK!!" and angry voice shouted across the street. For a moment, the orange-haired navigator could only come up with one name to fit that description. However, her assumptions proved to be wrong as she noticed the next second that Luffy was standing right beside her.

"What the…" Nami and Luffy both thought as a girl running at such a fast speed, they thought she was probably broke the world record in sprinting, bolted past them, knocking them both off their feet. They watched as the girl continued to sprint and with a great leap, jumped on top of one of the roofs of the houses and ran until she disappeared.

"Relative of yours Luffy?" Nami asked still staring at the roof top that the girl had been.

"No," he answered simply. "Man, she's amazing!" he said with a grin on his face.

"Whatever…" Nami said standing up. Luffy followed in this action.

He continued to grin and started walking in the direction that the girl had come from, "At least we know where we can find food now!"

Meanwhile, Zoro and Robin weren't having as an eventful of time as Luffy and Nami.

"Mr. Swordsman, do you have any place in particular that you want to go to?" Robin asked. Zoro just shrugged.

"Not really…you?" he asked.

Robin said, "Well, maybe if there's a book store or something…" at that moment, Zoro pointed ahead of them.

"Isn't that one?" he said. Robin looked and sure enough, a small book store was in sight.

"Do you mind if we go in?" she asked.

Zoro just shrugged again and said, "Sure, I don't mind." That was about the extent of their conversation for that time.

"Sheesh, I don't know why I had to get stuck with these morons while that crappy swordsman got to go with Robin-chan and rubber idiot with Nami-swan!!" one very unhappy cook was muttering to himself as he walked around the town with a cyborg and a reindeer, a rain cloud over his head.

"What's wrong Sanji?" Chopper asked him.

"Hey cook, it's only for two hours!" Franky reminded him. However, this didn't seem to make Sanji feel any better. So, Franky tried another tactic. "Hey, look Sanji, there's a whole group of girls over there!" Immediately, as if he had been shot by adrenaline arrow, the love-cook shot over towards the group of ladies.

"Oh man, I'd better get started on that medicine for hopeless idiots," Chopper said.

When two hours had finally passed, everyone met (surprisingly) on time as their rendezvous.

"I guess we can head back to the ship now," Nami said when everyone had gathered. However as the Straw Hats began to walk down the back road towards their ship someone disrupted them.

"You don't wanna be goin' that way," a female's voice came out of nowhere. The seven looked around and after a couple of seconds, found the speaker.

"You!" Nami and Luffy shouted together.

**So, how was it??? Good, bad, could be better, could be worse???**

**If there's something I could do to improve my writing, please let me know.**

**I don't mind negative comments, but please make them meaningful. **

**Review Please!!!! **


	2. Chapter 2: Mystery Artist

**Arts of the Ocean**

**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own One Piece…this awesome manga belongs to the brilliant Oda sensei!! **

**The Mystery Artist **

The girl was sitting on top of one of the roofs in the street. It was the girl that Luffy and Nami had encountered earlier, the one who had stolen the food and ran. She had extremely long black hair that was tied up in a pony-tail and was wearing a simple white T-shirt and long baggy green army pants. She wasn't looking at any of them, but rather at what seemed to be a sketchbook in her lap, which her hands that were clad in black gloves seemed to be drawing something on.

"Hey! What do you want?" Nami asked frowning. The girl didn't answer her question but rather kept on drawing on her paper.

"Black Leg Sanji, 77million Berries…" she muttered and threw a piece of paper down to them. More specifically, to Sanji, who caught it and dropped his cigarette out of surprise.

"Cyborg Franky, AKA Cutty Flam, 44million Berries…" she threw another piece of paper, this time to Franky.

"Cotton Candy Lover Tony Tony Chopper, 50 Berries…" a piece of paper came flying down towards Chopper who stared at it for a second and then said "WOW!"

"Cat Burglar Nami, 16million Berries…" Nami caught her paper.

"Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, 120million Berries…"

"Demon Child Nico Robin, 80million…"

"And Straw Hat Monkey D. Luffy…300million Berries" the girl threw these down to the astonished crew who were staring at the pieces of paper that the girl had thrown to them. On each one was a drawing of a Straw Hat pirate. But the drawings themselves were so good, they thought they were black and white photos.

"Wow! You're awesome!" Luffy shouted, clearly amazed. The girl only smiled and twirled her pencil between her fingers.

"So, why weren't we supposed to go this way again?" Nami asked. The girl jumped off the roof and landed on her feet in front of the crew.

"I didn' say ya couldn't go, but y'all get caught by the marines that just docked there if you do go," she said.

"Marines!!" they all said together. Then again in perfect unity, "Oh no, Usopp!"

"Oh that long-nose kid that calls himself Soge-king? I went ahead and warned him to get the ship outta there…he should be docked on the other side of the island by now," the raven-hair girl said. They all looked back at her.

"Who exactly are you?" Nami asked, a slight suspicious tone in her voice.

"Oh, me? My name's Mira and I'm a resident o' this island," she answered simply.

"Hey Mira, do you know where I can get food?" Luffy asked his famous question. To their surprise, Mira's face split into a smile much similar to Luffy's or Ace's or Garp's.

"O'course! Follow me!" she said happily as she signed to them to follow her.

"Excuse me Ms. Mira, but where exactly is our ship docked?" Sanji asked her.

"I'll take you there along with Luffy's request," she answered. Immediately, Sanji's eyes turned into hearts and started saying things in the background like, "Sooooooooo cute! I love her tom-boyish style!"

Meanwhile, Luffy seemed to be getting along well with Mira. They both seemed to have similar characteristics which included, freedom-loving, ocean-loving and food-loving.

"You're goin' after One Piece too? That's so cool!" Mira was heard saying.

Luffy grinned and answered with his hands folded behind his head, "Yup! Then I'm gonna become Pirate King!"

"Well then you guys get to travel all the way to Raftel…that's so cool…I wish I could travel that far too…"

"Why don't you?" At this point, a very frustrated navigator jumped in between them, mainly to prevent Luffy from recruiting this stranger to the crew and the other reason…she herself really didn't know.

"Are we almost there Mira?" Nami asked trying to keep calm. Mira pointed straight ahead. Where she was pointing at looked like a small village with several small houses scattered around the place, and one building in what seemed to be the center of this little community that looked larger than the rest. The rest of the terrain was covered in emerald-green grass and trees that were strewn all over the place. On the opposite side from where they were standing, was the coast line with a sandy white beach spread out on the rim of it. To either side of the resort-like shore were cliffs that weren't that high but high enough to hide a ship well.

"Oh yeah, and you're ship is righ' over there," she added pointing towards the right cliff. Half hiding behind the tall sea cliff was indeed the Straw Hat pirate's ship, the Thousand Sunny.

"My ship!" Franky yelled in joy as he encountered his masterpiece, safe and sound once more. The seven pirates and Mira walked over towards the large ship that bared the Jolly Roger wearing a straw hat.

"Oooooi! Usopp!" Luffy yelled towards the deck. Immediately, the long-nose sharpshooter sprinted to the side of the deck.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU??? THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LEAVE ME BY MYSELF TO GUARD THE SHIP!!!!" Usopp yelled back, looking as though he had seen a ghost. "NAMI!!! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!!!"

Nami only shrugged and said, "Sorry,"

"Oioi…'sorry'…" Usopp only muttered to himself, hanging his head. "…I thought this was the end of my life…"

"Ya okay Soge-king?" Mira asked so that he could hear.

"Yeah…thanks back there…so who are you by the way…?" he asked curiously.

Mira only shook her head and said, "I'll tell y'all everythin'…but first follow me." And with that, she started walking over towards the village.

"What about the ship?" the pirates asked. Mira smiled.

"Ya don't have to worry 'bout that," then she added, "The marines won't be commin' from this dock any time soon." So, without any further questioning, they followed the raven-hair artist into the village after Usopp had disembarked from the ship.

"Is this your village?" Robin asked Mira.

The artist smiled again and said, "Guess y' could say that."

The Straw Hats confirmed two things while walking through the village. The first thing was that this was indeed Mira's home and the second was that Mira was liked by everyone in the village. As they walked down the small roads past houses, people would stop to greet the girl or even start up a conversation with her. No one seemed to be suspicious of the eight pirates that were following her. Instead, they greeted them like they were long-lost friends!

"Sorry 'bout that guys," Mira apologized after having a rather long conversation with one of the villagers.

"Mirrrrrrra, I'm hungry!" Luffy whined holding his stomach.

"Don' worry Luffy, y' can get food at that place straight ahead," she said pointing towards the largest building in the small village. And like a bullet, Luffy was off! Mira started to laugh at his reaction and then followed in a jog saying, "C'mon!" to the rest of the crew. A vain in her temple twitching for some strange reason, Nami led the rest of the group to the building.

"Come on!" Nami growled to the others, marching off after Mira and Luffy. Seeing Nami's reaction, a certain archaeologist smiled and a swordsman grinned.

The inside of the building looked something like a mix between a restaurant and a bar. It was a very clean place, furnished with dark wood, and a large fireplace on one of the walls, opposite from the entrance. To the right of the main large doors, was a tall bar counter with tall wooden stools and behind this counter was one middle-aged bartender who was wiping glasses with a clean cloth. In the middle of the wide room were small round tables and chairs. It was a place that made you feel quite at home and it had an obvious, friendly atmosphere to it.

"Oh, hi Mira-san!" the bartender said looking up as Mira entered.

"Hi Mr. Kawara…I see you've already met one of the crew…" she said spotting Luffy sitting on one of the high stools by the tall counter, fork and knife in his hands.

The man named Mr. Kawara laughed and said, "Yeah, this kid seems to have an appetite as big as you do." Mira laughed as well.

"Yeah, as that stingy cook found out today."

"Where you stealing food again?" Mr. Kawara asked. Mira grinned and nodded.

"Yeah! I saw her too! She ran right past Nami and I when we were out shopping," Luffy said. The bartender laughed again.

"That's Mira for you," he said. At that moment, the door opened and in walked an anxious-looking navigator, followed by the rest of the crew.

"Oh and this is the rest of them," Mira told Mr. Kawara.

The man greeted them and said, "So, I hear that you're the Straw Hat pirates. Nice to meet you all." A astonished crew said, 'nice to meet you too," while wondering why this man, and these people living in this village were not scared of them at all but instead treated them like friends.

"Please tell us about this island…and this village," Robin first asked as the Straw Hats sat down around two of the round tables. After they had all introduced themselves to the bartender and the other people in the building, Mr. Kawara had made up a meal for them of which they were now in the middle of consuming. (That is, a certain captain was consuming).

"Well, the first part o' the island that y' were shoppin' at doesn't have anything special 'bout it. It's just an area in the norm. But this village is a different story," at this moment, she paused and stared outside the window for a second. "The marines won' come here 'cause everyone it the village hates them."

"Why's that?" Sanji asked. Mira sighed.

"Every single person living in this village have lost something or someone 'cause of the World Government and that causes 'em to be hostile towards them."

"But couldn't the marines dock here anyways?" Robin asked. Mira tilted her head to the side a little.

"Well…they could…legally…but they get chased out every time they try…"

"By who?" Mira grinned.

"Oh, there are…people capable of that…"

"Wirree? (Really)?!" a voice came from Luffy who had his mouth stuffed with food at the moment, but swallowed it in one gulp when he noticed that his words didn't make any sense.

"Who are they? Are they strong?" he asked excitedly like a little kid. Mira continued to smile.

"Oh, they're strong alrigh'. But I can' tell you who they are."

"Final question," Nami said in an interrogating manner, "Why did you help us back there?"

"I thought it would be obvious," Mira started, "This is a government-hating Island…this whole village an' I are thankful for what y'all did back at Enies Lobby y' know. We welcome any pirate or anyone else that's had the guts to go against the World Government, especially like that." Nami still didn't seem to be satisfied with that answer, nor did Zoro.

"Hé Mira, did you hear about that?" Luffy asked.

Mira raised an eyebrow, "O'course, every single person on this earth heard about that," she said.

"Yeah and it was cool 'cause I fought this pigeon guy…"

"Pigeon guy?"

"Yeah, he was a pigeon guy that turned into a cat…"

"???"

"He's talking about Rob Lucci," Robin confirmed for the very confused Mira.

"Oh…"

Luffy went on talking about the pigeon guy who turned into a cat and eventually his story was tied together with the others from the rest of the crew members to complete the story. Mira sat there listening carefully and interestedly. However, this time of adventure story telling didn't last too long as something or more specifically, someone disrupted them.

"Mira-san, Mira-san!" a little girl around the age of ten came running into the building calling for Mira. They all looked up to see what the little girl wanted.

"What's wrong Haru?" Mira asked. Haru had to catch her breath first before she could continue.

"Mira-san, I came running from the other town to tell you that the marines are heading this way! And they're looking for the Straw Hat pirates!" Immediately, Mira stood up and walked over to Mr. Kawara. He had heard the news too and he quickly handed Mira a key. The artist took it and walked over to the fireplace.

"Get over here guys!" she said to the pirates. They too, quickly stood up and walked to where Mira was. Mira then was fumbling around the brick mantel of the fireplace. One of the bricks proved to not really be a brick as it opened like a small door and inside this was a key hole. Mira inserted the key and turned it. To the Straw Hat's surprise, the inside of the fireplace shifted to reveal a secret passage or a room.

"Hurry and get it and don't come out 'til I say its okay," Mira ordered. The eight pirates obeyed and hurriedly climbed into the small dark room. Once they had all got in, Mira closed the door (fireplace) again and locked it and put the fake brick back into place. Then she calmly sat down at the high counter and ordered coffee from Mr. Kawara.

About ten minuets later three marines walked in. The people in the bar continued to do what they were doing and totally ignored them. The three very unwelcome newcomers walked over to the counter where the bartender was putting dishes away and Mira was sitting and drinking a cup of coffee.

"Excuse me sir," one of the marines said to Mr. Kawara, "We have had news that Straw Hat Luffy and his crew have disembarked on this island and we were wondering if anyone in this village has seen…"

"No one's seen anyone," Mr. Kawara said a little harshly. Mira continued to sip her drink, pretending to be oblivious to what was going on next to her.

Meanwhile…

"Ow! That's my foot!"

"Sorry…"

"Shut up or they'll hear us!"

The Straw Hats were having an interesting time hiding in the secret room behind the fireplace. It was very dark and cramped and they were having a hard time trying not to step on each other's feet. They were trying to keep as quiet as possible, but if your captain's name was Monkey D. Luffy and you were apart of his crew, the words 'quiet' or 'calm' or 'careful' was very unlikely to be in your vocabulary.

"Ouch! My nose!" Usopp's voice said painfully. "Sanji! You broke my nose again!"

"Aaaaa, we need a doctor! Doctor! Doctor! …oh no wait, I'm the doctor!" Chopper said.

"I'm not Sanji!" Franky's voice came.

"Robin-chwan, Nami-swan! Are you okay?"

Franky continued, "See, that's Sanji!"

"I don't care!" Usopp almost yelled.

"Ow," a soft exclamation came from Robin.

"Oh sorry about that," Zoro said, realizing that he had just bumped right into her.

"Marimo! Get away from Robin-chan!" Sanji's voice came. And of course, just as they always did in critical times, they started fighting.

"Shut the heck up you two! They'll find us!" Nami's voice joined the confusion as she somehow miraculously managed to find the cook and swordsman in the dark and give them the beatings of their lives.

"Luffy? Where are you?" Nami said, realizing that she hadn't heard anything from her captain yet. She looked around and saw Luffy staring at something through a small crack in the wall were there was light coming in from. Nami walked over to him, curious.

"What's wrong Luffy? Have they left yet?"

"No," he answered slowly, "Hey, can people float?" Three question marks appeared over Nami's head, until she joined Luffy in watching what he was. Her jaw dropped so low, it almost hit the ground.

Back in the main room…

The three marines had not given up in trying to ask people about the Straw Hat. However, no one replied to their questions but instead completely ignored them.

"That's it! We know that the Straw Hat's came to this island and that they're here somewhere! If you don't tell us where they are, we will report this matter to the government," the marine who seemed to be the head of the group said. This statement resulted in death glares from every single person in the building with the exception of Mira who was finishing off her drink calmly and coolly as if nothing was going on. Then finally when after she had taken her last sip, she spoke.

"If I were you, I'd be headn' out that door right 'bout now." The head of the three turned to her.

"Why would that be Miss?" he asked. Mira paused, staring down at the counter. Then all of the sudden, something very strange happened. The man who had been speaking suddenly looked as if he couldn't move his body. Then the next second, he was lifted off the ground, unable to move but up.

"That would be 'cause you're really gettin' on my nerves," Mira finished, still in her cool voice, not even looking at the marine and his comrades and the expressions on their faces.

The Straw Hats, seven of them assembled by the crack in the wall to see what was going on, and Robin who was using her Devil Fruit powers, all stared at the scene in front of them.

A small mischievous smile spread on Mira's lips.

**What's up with Nami???**

**And what's up with the last little bit??? **

**To answer Dragonzair's question, I want to say that this story takes place after Thriller Bark but unfortunately for me, Luffy might recruit more people to the scene so I'm not specifying anything. **

**Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed on the last chapter. **

**I appreciate it a lot…so please review this chapter too!!**


	3. Chapter 3: Addition and Division

**Arts of the Ocean**

**Disclaimer: To my dismay, One Piece is not owned by me, myself or I…but by the great Oda sensei! **

**Addition, and Division**

There was dead silence in the room as everyone was intensively watching the scene. Even the Straw Hats were not making a sound. The marine continued to slowly float up, not able to move his body, or do anything about the situation he was currently in. His two comrades stood there, not knowing what to do either. However, there was one thing that the marine could still do, and that was talk.

"You! Let me go! I demand to be freed at once!" with this, the people in the room started to snicker.

"Demand?" Mira repeated. She still wasn't looking at any of them. "Tell me, what sortta position are y' in right now to demand?" she asked, turning around to face the floating man.

"You're a Devil Fruit user…" he said.

"Na," Mira said simply, "I'm just born with this ability…"

"That's enough! Let him go!" the two other marines who had been only watching until now, pulled out their rifles and were pointing them at Mira.

"Now ya really got me ticked…" she told them.

"If you don't let him go in three seconds, we'll shoot!"

Mira looked at them dully and replied, "I don't need three seconds." Then with that, she suddenly disappeared and then reappeared behind the two men, disarmed them and with one swift move, they where both on the floor, nearly unconscious. It had all happened so fast though that what most people only saw was Mira sitting in her chair, and then two nearly unconscious marines on the floor with her standing next to them. Luffy, Zoro and Sanji knew different though.

"It almost looked like she used 'Soru' or something," Luffy commented.

"Now if you're not out of this building in five seconds, then I'll make y' leave," Mira said to the three men. Then she added, "And I wouldn't be commin' back here if I where you…or anyone who bears the name o' the World Government." With that, the floating man was released and his comrades managed to stand up, so the three decided to escape…really fast because they really didn't even need two seconds to be out of the building and down the road. The moment they were gone, the whole place broke out into laughter.

"Did you see their faces?"

"Ahahaha! And that's the World Government!"

Mira sat back down by the counter, laughing along with the rest.

"Oi, is she forgetting about us?" Zoro said. The rest of the crew sweat-dropped.

"Oi! Mira!" Luffy shouted. Miraculously, the artist heard him and turned to look over to the fire place. She suddenly jumped off of her chair and laughed.

"Haha! Sorry guys, I almost forgot to let y' out!!" The crew sweat-dropped again. She moved the fake brick out of place again and unlocked the door. The crew stumbled out into the room, eager to get out of the tight hideout that they had been in.

"Yaaaaa, that was amazing! I didn't know you could do that!" Luffy said to Mira. She grinned and set both of her hands on her hips.

"Hehe, that was nothin'!" she exclaimed.

"Mira-san here is our village's strongest fighter," Mr. Kawara told them.

"Hé, really?" Luffy said. "Jya, do you want to join my crew?" Mira's face turned from a grin to an expression of surprise and then into a small grin again.

"Luffy, you're joking right?" two voices said together, one that belonged to Mira and the other to Nami. For some reason, Zoro and Robin looked at each other, thinking the same thing. They both weren't sure about this girl yet. The Love Cook's reaction was expected as his eyes and the smoke from his cigarette turned into shapes of hearts, and the Usopp, Chopper and Franky were a bit surprised, but yet, knowing their captain, not really.

"No, I'm not joking," said Luffy simply.

"Luffy…" a clearly ticked-off navigator growled at her captain.

"What?" he asked.

"…nothing!" Nami snapped. Luffy only shrugged and turned back to Mira.

"So, how 'bout it?" he asked. "Wanna become a pirate?"

Mira smiled slightly and said, "Not that I don' wanna, it's just that…" she looked around the room at the people eating, laughing and talking. "I can't leave…I gotta stay here."

"Hey Mira-san, would you mind going and getting another case of ale from the storage house?" Mr. Kawara said suddenly. Mira turned around.

"Oh, sure thing." And with that, she walked across the room and out the main door.

"Hey you guys," Mr. Kawara said, addressing the Straw Hats. They turned to him. "I know Mira-san's stubborn and probably won't go with you even though you want her to but…" he sighed, "I think it would be better if did go with you."

"Why?" Luffy asked. Mr. Kawara looked towards the door.

"Mira-san is indeed the strongest fighter in this village and she is probably on this island…but she loves freedom…and that's something that she can't get here…she won't ever feel free just staying here and protecting us."

"But I won't force her," Luffy said.

"I know," Mr. Kawara continued, "But I'll try to talk to her…maybe she'll change her mind."

Mira returned with a large crate in her arms.

-----

The Straw Hats returned to their ship after a couple of hours. Mira said that she was going to go home too and had bid them all goodnight. All of the guys said that they were going to go to bed since Mira had assured them that no one had to be on watch that night. So, all yawing, they went to their rooms. Robin said that she was going to stay up a bit and read a book that Mira had given her about the island's history and Nami walked to her room, clearly upset about something. After the navigator entered her room and closed the door, she collapsed on to her bed and didn't move. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't fall asleep. She simply didn't feel tired. There was a soft knock on her door. Nami sat up and mumbled, 'come in'. The door opened and in walked Robin.

"Oh hey Robin," Nami said dully.

"May I sit down?" Robin asked, pointing at Nami's desk chair. The navigator nodded and Robin sat down.

"What is it?" Nami asked. Robin studied the young woman's face for a second.

"You haven't been acting yourself lately…or more specifically today. I was just wondering what was wrong," the archaeologist said. Nami stared at her bed sheets for a second.

"I don't really know either Robin…" she answered.

Robin smiled and said, "I think you do." Nami turned to look at the archaeologist and sighed.

"I don't like that girl…" Nami confessed. Robin chuckled.

"Well, that's kind of obvious…" she said and then continued, "But what is it about her that you don't like?"

Nami shook her head and answered, "I really don't know…aaaaa, I don't how Luffy could have asked her to join!" she said angrily. Robin's smiled continued to linger on her face.

"Well, I don't really have any specific objection to letting Mira join…in fact, I think she's a nice person…but that's only because," she stood up from her chair and walked towards the door, "My eyes aren't green." Nami only stared up at the archaeologist. Robin was about to leave, when Nami made an unexpected comment.

"Speaking of 'green'…" Robin only glanced back at the navigator who was wearing a smug/sneaky smile on her lips.

"Good night Ms. Navigator," Robin said.

"'Night…" Nami answered casually.

-----

"Mira-san, you want to join don't you?" Mr. Kawara asked the raven-haired girl. Mira only stared down at her drink.

"I can't though…this village…" Mira started but Mr. Kawara cut her off.

"There are people in this village that can fight well you know…not nearly as well as you, but good enough. You know that this village stands for freedom." Mira looked up.

"You're right, I do wanna go with 'em," she admitted. Mr. Kawara smiled.

"Then go." Mira gave a big, Luffy-like grin and nodded.

"Yup! I will go and become a pirate!"

-----

"Sanji!! Wake up! I'm hungry!" Luffy shouted, waking the whole ship up. A very unhappy chef poked his head out of his room.

"Shut up Luffy! We're going to go eat at that restaurant slash bar place this morning, remember?" Luffy pounded his fist on his palm.

"Oh right," he said and was off! The rest of the crew slowly came out of their rooms still yawning and were about to follow their captain but noticed that someone was missing.

"Hey, where's Zoro?" Usopp asked.

"Oh yeah, he's not here," Chopper added, looking around for the swordsman.

"He's probably training somewhere," Franky suggested.

"Just leave the crappy swordsman and let's go," the cook said, starting to climb down the ship.

Just then, Nami smiled and said, "Hey Robin, would you mind going to find Zoro and bring him to the restaurant...or I'm sure he'll get lost."

Robin, keeping her cool said, "Sure, I'll be there in a few minuets." And with that, she went to search for the swordsman.

The archaeologist soon found him under the cliffs on the other side of the Thousand Sunny. Slashed up rocks and boulders surrounded him and he was just putting his three swords away when Robin walked into the scene.

"Good morning Mr. Swordsman," Robin said with her usual smile.

"'Morning…" Zoro responded, more in a mumble. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Ms. Navigator asked me to come and get you because everyone's headed to the restaurant for breakfast," Robin answered.

"Oh, I'm coming then," he said and walked over to Robin. The archaeologist smiled and started walking with the swordsman.

"Mr. Swordsman," Robin started, "What do you think of Mira?" Zoro only shrugged.

"I donno…"

"You don't trust her though, do you?" Robin said. Zoro didn't reply at first.

"I'm not making any judgments," he said. Robin chuckled.

"Was that how you felt towards me too?" she asked a little quietly. Zoro looked at her a little surprised. Robin glanced at him. "Do you trust me now though?" Zoro looked down and closed his eyes, remembering fighting at Enies Lobby, remembering usually calm and cool Robin crying, yelling to them for help…how she was about to sacrifice herself for all of them….

"What do you think? We wouldn't have risked our lives if we didn't trust you…" Zoro said.

However, Robin shook her head and said, "No, I mean, do _you_ trust me?" Zoro was taken aback again from Robin's questions. But before he could give any response, Robin shook her head again and said, "No, never mind, I'm sorry…asking you so many questions…" Zoro didn't say anything. For a while, there was an awkward silence between them as they walked towards the building where the rest of the crew was waiting.

"Hé," Zoro laughed suddenly. "Did you find out what Nami was ticked about yesterday?" he asked Robin suddenly. Robin was first startled at his question, but then smiled too.

"Oh, she didn't tell me…but I did see her eyes turning green…" she added. Zoro grinned.

"Thought so," he mumbled then added, "Well, if that Mira does join our crew, Luffy's gonna have his hands full."

"Hmm, no matter how far they can stretch…though I really don't think that Mira likes him in that way," Robin said, "I just think our navigator is too sensitive…"

"Ah, you can't blame her…he's the guy that destroyed her captor and his crew and rule, just because she was crying," Zoro said, remembering fighting the merman, Arlong and his crew.

"So I've heard…"

"Well, this is going to get interesting...anyways." The two crewmates walked into the building where the rest of the pirates were, both grinning insides themselves.

"Hey Zoro! Robin! Guess what?" Luffy said excitedly, "Guess what! Guess what! Mira's gonna join our crew!" At that moment, both Robin and Zoro almost burst out laughing, but resisted the temptation.

Instead, Robin smiled and said, "Is that so?" and Zoro just nodded in response.

"'Morning Zoro! Robin-nésan!" Mira waved at them smiling. ('Nésan' means 'older sister' or a female around the age of 18 to 30)

Mira was sitting by the counter talking to Luffy who was sitting on the right of her, while trying to ignore the heart-eyed love-cook on the other side. Chopper, Franky, and Usopp were enjoying a meal in which their captain wasn't trying to steal their food around one of the round tables in the middle of the room and Nami…she was sitting by herself at another table. Zoro and Robin ordered their breakfast and Zoro went to join Usopp, Chopper and Franky, while Robin went over to Nami's table.

"May I join you?" Robin asked. Nami only nodded bit didn't say anything. She was too busy eyeing her captain and the new crewmate.

Robin smiled and said, "Is there something interesting over there?" With that, Nami snapped back to life and glanced at Robin instead.

"So, how was your walk?" the navigator asked, lowering her voice and grinned a bit.

"Good," Robin only answered.

"Nothing interesting happen?" Nami asked casually.

"No," the archaeologist said again. They both turned to watch Mira demonstrating her powers by making the guy's empty breakfast plates float into the air and slowly to the kitchen and wash themselves. Robin could swear that she heard Nami mutter, "Show off…" but dismissed it as a fragment of her imagination. The two women carried their empty plates over to the counter once they had finished a rather quiet and awkward breakfast.

"So I think we should be off tomorrow…is that okay Mira?" Luffy was saying. Mira nodded.

"That's fine," she said.

"Don't you have to go and say 'goodbye' to a lot of people?" Franky asked.

Mira shook her head and answered, "Na, I'm not tellin' anyone."

------

For Mira, the rest of the day was spent packing her things but thank goodness, she wasn't a fashion queen so it didn't take her long to pack her clothes. Her art supplies were a different story though. All her sketchbooks and paintings were spread across her room as she devised a plan to pack them all. Eventually she did though it did take a while. As she was sorting through her pieces of art, she came across a drawing of a ship…a pirate ship.

"_I wanna become a pirate!"_

"_Haha! A little shrimp like you, become a pirate?" _

"_I'm not a shrimp! And I will become a pirate!"_

"_Yeah right…"_

"_I will! And I'll become stronger than even grandpa!"_

"_Really…? Well, that should be interesting to see." _

Mira snapped out of her thoughts and slid the drawing between one of her sketchbooks and continued her packing.

------

"Oi! Guys!" Mira shouted. She was standing by the Thousand Sunny and calling to the pirates. Immediately, Luffy came sprinting out.

"Hey Mira!" he shouted back happily from the deck of the ship.

"Hey, are y'all coming for supper?" she asked.

"Of course! We'll be right there!" Luffy said back. Mira nodded and head off to the restaurant. The Straw Hats followed eventually since they had been busy getting ready for the next day since Luffy insisted on leaving early in the morning. They had been collecting supplies all day and Sanji, Usopp and Chopper had been sent out to the larger town to go and buy everything that they needed. Jobs done, the eight of them headed off to the main building for the last time.

Mr. Kawara had already prepared supper for them and was waiting for their arrival while talking to Mira about something. They both looked up when the pirates entered.

"Oh hey guys! Mr. Kawara was just saying that the marines left the island this afternoon 'cause they confirmed that the Straw Hats weren't here," Mira said.

"That's good," the pirates said. They all helped themselves to the food, Luffy first of course.

"By the way, thanks for feeding us for the past couple of days," Sanji said, feeling as if he were on a holiday.

Mr. Kawara laughed and said, "No problem! You're all our village's hero's friends. I don't mind at all." The bartender glanced at Mira who was sitting at a table next to Robin and asking her how she had liked her book. "Mira's lived in this village for a couple of years now but everyone feels as if she were born here…no one's going to be glad that she left…but it's the best thing for her," he added.

"You mean, Mira wasn't born on this island?" Sanji asked. The bartender shook his head.

"No, she wasn't. She just moved here like two or three years ago."

"Oh, I didn't know that," the cook said surprised.

"Yeah," Mr. Kawara continued, "She loves traveling though…she's been out of the island and around a couple of times already. I'm sure she'll love being with you guys."

------

Dawn came and the Straw Hats were ready to leave. They were, however, missing the newest member of the crew, who was standing on one of the cliffs, staring off into the ocean.

"Hey Mira! We're gonna leave soon!" the captain called. Mira raised her hand in reply and after glancing back at the ocean once more, started walking over to the large pirate ship. She climbed onboard and turned to stare at the village. She had said her farewells to Mr. Kawara that morning and had told him to send her condolences to everyone in the village. The Straw Hats had thanked the bartender the night before who had wished them well. And now, they were finally off…to a new adventure and with a new crewmate. The anchor was pulled up and the ship began to move.

The artist continued to stare off at the village which was getting smaller by the second with an almost blank expression on her face.

_To be continued… _

**Okay, don't kill me for ending my stories at weird places…I just like doing that :) **

**Thanks to everyone who reviews…I appreciate it a lot!**

**So on that note, please review! **


	4. Chapter 4: Dawn before Twilight

**Arts of the Ocean**

**Disclaimer: One Piece is owned by Oda sensei…and unfortunately, not by me…**

**Dawn before Twilight **

"Hey!! Get your hands out of my food!" Usopp shouted to Luffy, trying to pull his plate away from him.

"Hey! Don't be stingy! I just want some!!" Luffy argued, trying to pull the sharpshooter's plate back.

"No!"

"Luffy…Luffy, Luffy" Mira said shaking her head, "Ya still need practice…" at that moment, a piece of toast floated off of Chopper's plate and landed in the artist's hand.

"Awww, I wish I could do that!" Luffy said enviously.

Chopper had just noticed the piece of toast missing and then noticed that it was in Mira's hand and yelled, "AAAAA!! Two Luffys!"

Mira was almost rolling on the floor with laughter as Usopp was saying, "Thank goodness, Luffy can't do that! Or he'd eat all our food and we'd be dried up bones by now!" Franky was laughing too, watching Mira hunched over with laughter and Luffy and Usopp fighting over the plate.

"Stop it you idiots!" Sanji said, kicking Luffy and Usopp in the head, putting a stop to their fight. "Mira-san! Are you still hungry?" the love-cook asked the artist who had just caught her breath.

"No Sanji, thank you," Mira answered smiling. Luckily, no one saw the navigator make a disgusted look on her face. Robin sat calmly through this typical breakfast, sipping her coffee and finishing off reading one of her novels. Zoro wasn't directly in the drama either but was guarding his breakfast carefully since there were now two food-stealing culprits onboard, both currently sitting in the same room as him.

"Yoshi! Hey Nami, when are we gonna get to the next island?" Luffy asked the navigator eagerly. Nami looked down at the map that she had spread out in front of her.

"Well, if this weather keeps up, and there are no obstacles on the way, then I guess about five days or so…but it'll probably take longer," she estimated.

"Five days…" Luffy muttered.

"Hey," Mira asked suddenly, "Do ya think the marines will come after us soon?"

"I hope not," Usopp said shuddering, but then looked up at Mira. "Why?"

Mira just shrugged and answered, "I was just wonderin' how often they come after this ship…"

"Too often," Usopp answered.

"Not too often," Zoro corrected him, "Just like two or three or four times a week…"

"THAT'S A LOT!!" the sharpshooter argued. While Usopp was giving a speech about how being chased by a fleet of marines four times a week was a big ordeal, Nami had rolled up her map and left the galley. Little did she know that a pair of wondering eyes were following her until she was out of sight.

-------

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!" Zoro shouted from the rear of the ship. There were three sounds of cannons blasting off and another three sounds of the cannon shells splashing into the undisturbed sheet of water, causing the Thousand Sunny to sway in the waves that had just been created.

"I didn't think we'd be under attack so soon," Mira said to the sharpshooter who was busy loading up the cannons to counterattack. It had only been a couple of hours since Mira had brought up the subject when a fleet of marine ships were attacking them.

"Neither did I!" he shouted over the noise. "Are you going to do something, or just stand there?"

Mira walked over to the end of the ship were Zoro was standing joined by Luffy. Nami was giving orders to Sanji, Franky and Chopper while trying to find a good tail wind that they could ride on, and Robin 'helped' Usopp load the cannons with her 'hanahana' hands while she herself calmly sat on her chair, reading a book. At least seven marine ships were following them and attempting to sink them. Usopp shot back, hitting one of the ships square in its front.

"Hey Luffy," Mira said, "Do y' mind if I dibs at least two of those ships?"

"I don't mind," Luffy said. One of the marine's ships shot towards them again. However, this time it stopped halfway towards the Straw Hats ship and flew back at the place were it had come from.

"This is long-range," Mira muttered to herself taking her black gloves off, "There, that's better…" she said, hopping onto the railing, facing the marine fleet.

"What are you doing?" Zoro asked over the noise. Mira didn't answer. She held her arms out in front or her, the back of her hands facing each other as if they were about to part something. Then she separated them from each other, slowly and as if she was pushing on something heavy. Mira grit her teeth, her muscles at work though all that she seemed to be pushing on was air. Luffy and Zoro looked over to the marine's fleets and to their surprise, saw two of the ships tilting over, exactly in the position that Mira was pushing. Then with a yell, Mira broke through the pressure and at exactly the same time, the two ships flipped onto their sides.

"Oh man, they're heavy…" she panted.

"You can feel their weight?" Zoro asked. Mira nodded.

"Yeah, when I move things, it's just like I'm movin' it with my own two arms…I just don' have to touch it," she explained.

"You mean…you mean…you could do that without your powers?" the swordsman asked shocked.

Mira smiled and said, "Don't underestimate me, just 'cause I'm a girl." Zoro shut up after that, thinking he knew too many girls that didn't want to be underestimated because of their gender.

"WOW!!!" Luffy shouted, clearly amazed.

"We've caught a good tail wind!" the navigator shouted. The Thousand Sunny began to speed up, leaving the marines to wonder how two of their ships just suddenly sunk. Soon the ships were out of sight all together as the Straw Hat's sailed off, no harm done.

------

The rest of the day went on pretty normally, with Zoro sleeping, Robin sitting on her deck chair reading a book, Usopp inventing some sort of strange contraption, Chopper experimenting with a new medicine he had created, Franky making sure that there was no damage done to the ship and working on its maintenance, Nami studying or drawing a map and occasionally checking on the weather, Sanji trying to flirt with either Robin, Nami or Mira, Luffy bugging Sanji every five minuets for food and Mira sitting in the crows nest, painting or sketching something. Eventually supper came, in which the love-cook had to kick the captain and sharpshooter who were rushing into the galley saying, "Ladies first," and let the three women enter. And as always, there was a fight over food between Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, Franky, Zoro and Mira which ended with a swift kick by the cook to the five men and more food for Mira. Robin sat calmly as usual watching the drama, occasionally having a conversation with Mira who seemed to like talking to the archaeologist. However, Nami was unexceptionally quiet and when she had finished her meal, she walked out of the galley again, just as she had done that morning.

"_I wonder what's wrong with her?" _a certain someone was thinking, watching the navigator walk out.

Hours later, Nami sat alone in the crows nest. Everyone else had gone to bed, and tonight was her turn to be on the lookout. She leaned her back against the mast, staring off into the ocean, deep in thought. However, her trail of thought was disrupted by someone who stretched their hand out and grabbed the side of the crows nest and leaped into it.

"Oh, Luffy! What are you doing up?" Nami asked her captain. Luffy walked over to Nami and sat next to her.

"I didn't feel like sleeping yet," he said simply.

Nami sighed and said, "Oh…" They just both sat there in silence for a while, staring off into the horizon.

"Well, I think I'll go to bed," Luffy said suddenly, standing up and stretching.

"What? I mean…already?" Nami asked. Luffy looked down at her.

"Yeah, I mean I feel a little tired now so I'm going to bed," he said. Nami shrugged.

"Fine…goodnight…" she muttered. But just as Luffy was about to hop off of the crows nest, Nami said, "Wait!" Luffy turned around. "Did you want to tell me something?" she asked. Luffy shook his head. "Did you want me to tell you something?" the captain nodded. "What?"

"I donno, you've just been acting unhappy lately…" Luffy said.

"It's…nothing," Nami said, not looking at him. Luffy, however wasn't convinced so he sat back down besides Nami.

"Fine," he said and stared off into the ocean once more. Nami sighed. She knew that he wouldn't move until she told him what was bothering her.

"Luffy…" Nami started a little unsurely, "Can I ask you a question?" The captain stared back at her and nodded. Nami took a deep breath and asked, "Do you…I mean…is there anyone that you…" she hesitated for the next few words, "Is there anyone that you like?" she asked a little fast. Luffy stared at her blankly.

"Like?" he repeated as if he didn't understand what she meant. Then he grinned and answered, "Yup! I like my nakama a lot!" he said. Nami, however, shook her head.

"No, I mean…" she took a deep breath, "I mean…like as in…a girl…" Nami thought her captain didn't understand what she meant again. He just tilted his head a little and stared at her. "Ah, never mind," Nami said waving her hand as if to wipe the question away. Suddenly, Nami felt something on her left arm. She shivered and looked down to see what it was. "Luffy, what are you do-" he was tracing his thumb across her tattoo…the tattoo that she had got after carving her captors mark off…she remembered, stabbing herself, yelling Arlong's name after he had betrayed her…and Luffy, grabbing her hand to stop her from hurting herself anymore. He was the only one that she could call for help to, and could tell her honest feelings to. "Luffy…"

"Nami…you're really smart…" he suddenly stood up, "But I guess you're not a mind reader." And with that, he jumped off the crows nest and headed beck to his room, leaving a terribly confused navigator behind in the crows nest.

"_What did he mean by that?" _she thought to herself, watching her captain open the door to his room and disappear into it. The navigator leaned against the mast again and sighed. She couldn't read her captain sometimes…no, most all of the time. He was so simple and yet so terribly complicated. He acted so immature, but sometimes what he did or said was so far beyond his years that it was shocking. _"Luffy…I really don't get you…"_ Nami thought to herself. She calmly sat back and relaxed, thinking about her captain.

"_Hm, so that's what's going on…" _someone else thought, who had just been watching the scene. A devious smile spread across their lips.

-------

Apparently, Nami and Luffy weren't the only ones who were having troubles sleeping. Zoro woke up in the middle of the night, disturbed by something that he himself couldn't specify. He tried to fall back to sleep, but found that his attempts were useless so as he sometimes did, he got up and walked out on to the deck to train. Still, that strange feeling didn't leave him…it was a feeling that he sometimes got before something bad was about to happen.

"801…802…803…804…" the swordsman counted as he did pushups on his thumbs. He wasn't even breaking a sweat yet. "996…997…998…999…1000…" Still, he wasn't tired or felt like going back to bed. Zoro sat back down on the deck, leaning against the railing and reached for his most precious and prized sword, Wadoú Ichimonji. He stared down at the white sheath and hilt, remembering when he'd first encountered it and when he'd asked his dojo teacher for it.

"_Kuina…" _he said inside his thoughts.

"Mr. Swordsman…?" a voice came suddenly. Zoro looked up, surprised that he hadn't sensed anyone coming.

"Robin," he said, looking up at the archaeologist. She gave him one of her typical smiles.

"What are you doing up?" she asked. Zoro looked down again like he always did and shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep…what about you?"

Robin said, "It seems that no one can sleep tonight…I just saw Captain-san go to bed a couple of minuets ago…after jumping out of the crows nest…"

"Crows nest?" Zoro said, but then grinned slightly. "Who's on lookout tonight?"

"I'm pretty sure it's Ms. Navigator…" Robin answered as if this didn't have any sort of significance to it.

"Ah, I see…" Zoro said, that small smirk still present. Robin walked over to the ledge of the ship, next to the swordsman.

"Mr. Swordsman," she asked, "You were the first one to join the Straw Hat pirates…right?" Zoro nodded. "Then when did Ms. Navigator join?"

Zoro thought for a moment at this question and then answered, "Well…she was second…and fifth…"

"I heard that she was a crew member for the merman, Arlong's pirates…and that she did betray you all once…" the well-informed archaeologist said. Zoro nodded again.

"Yeah…but Luffy didn't even doubt her. I remember, when she ran off with the ship and the treasure, he really didn't even care about that…he was only concerned that we got her back…I told him to leave her and that we could get ourselves a different navigator, but he refused. He just said he wasn't going to let anyone else be his navigator but her," he said recalling his captain's determined face. Robin smiled and gazed over the ocean.

"He trusts her…more than anyone…" she said quietly. There was a silence between them for a while. Robin continued to gaze over the sea, a cool but yet slightly sad look on her face, Zoro, with his eyes closed, his head hung a little.

"Well, I'd better go to bed soon…" Robin started, turning to leave.

"Robin…" Zoro said after some hesitation. The archaeologist started down at him. Zoro was still not looking at her. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"I just wanted to know the answer the question I asked you…that's all," Robin said straight. She felt that playing guessing games with him just wasn't going to get her anywhere anymore. He was too complicated for even her mind…he was the one who had been the most hostile and non-trusting when she had first joined the crew, and no matter how hard she had tried to get him to trust her, he just seemed that he wasn't going to be convinced. But yet, Robin remembered what Nami had told her after their adventure at Skypiea…after she had been attacked by Enel, it had been Zoro that caught her before she fell and out of anger, he had gone to attack the evil dictator himself. And when they had all first met with Aokiji and he had gone to attack her, it had been Zoro that had protected her before Sanji or even Luffy. Then again with the CP9…. The truth was, the archaeologist knew nothing about him…and he knew very little about her. Yet, they were still so much alike in many ways.

Zoro remained quiet. Truth be told, he wasn't sure of the answer himself.

"Why are you so concerned about that?" Zoro asked finally. He looked up at her. "It seems you've been worried about trying to get me to trust you ever since you've first joined the crew."

"I just want to know…because if you didn't trust me, why would you fight for me that much?" Robin said.

"We're nakama…isn't that a good enough answer?" said Zoro. Robin stared at him for a second.

"It would be…if you were Captain-san…and I would even accept the reasoning to be because I'm a woman if it were Cook-san…but not for you Mr. Swordsman," Robin said. She turned to leave, and started walking across the deck. "I know that you never regarded me as a nakama before everything that happened at Enies Lobby and with the CP9," she said. "And I still think that you don't trust me…but I can't explain your actions up until now and I just wanted a truthful answer for it." She continued walking until she reached her room and opened the door and disappeared into it. Zoro just started hard at her the whole way.

Now, there was no way that he could sleep.

"_That woman…"_ he thought. _"She's right, I don't trust her…but…"_ he hesitated in his thoughts, _"But I'd even risk my life for her…what am I thinking! She's only a nakama…just a crewmate…we've all risked our lives for each other…"_

Zoro's mind flashed back to Robin saying, _"It would be…if you were Captain-san…and I would even accept the reasoning to be because I'm a woman if it were Cook-san…but not for you Mr. Swordsman."_

"_Nico Robin…"_ he thought to himself, growling with frustration in his mind. He leaned back on the railing, trying, attempting to get the raven-haired archaeologist out of his head.

"_Now this is getting interesting…" _

_To be continued… _

**Thanks again to those people who review. **

**I know this chapter is a little shorter than the others but I will try to update soon and continue on with the story. **

**Once again, I appreciate reviews. **


	5. Chapter 5: The Unexpected Event

**Arts of the Ocean**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. It belongs to the great Oda sensei!**

**The Unexpected Event**

The ship ran through an atmosphere of winter now. The temperature was slowly and steadily decreasing, as if to mock the sunny days that had been up until that point. The sun had hidden its face behind a veil of white mist in the beginning, but the thin fabric slowly knit itself into a grey wool, so that none of the yellow light could be seen though, or be allowed to kiss the waters which now refused to blush into their green and blue, but only remained a solid ash colour of grief and sadness. And as if it were adding to this opera, the wind was picking up its speed, carrying an icy chill with it, as it ran as an invisible and invincible force across the waves, arousing and conducting them.

The Thousand Sunny was indeed heading towards a winter island, much like the one they had been to long ago called Drum Island, when the princess of Alabasta, Vivi was still in the crew, when they were still riding on the Going Merry. The only one who was happy about the conditions of weather was the little (and sometimes not so little) reindeer doctor who would be happily outside on the deck while the other crewmates wore coats over coats, shivering, watching their breath rise up in the air like small pillars of steam, all wishing that it would be summer or spring again.

"Ooooo, it's cold!" Luffy said, running into the galley were Sanji was making supper and Robin was sitting at the table reading a book and sipping coffee while Usopp was working on another indescribable contraption. Luffy walked over to the table and sat down and watched whatever Usopp was doing. Robin looked up from her novel at the captain.

"Captain-san, it would probably be a good idea if you put on a jacket soon or you might get frostbite," she suggested to Luffy who would not notice that it was cold outside and when he did he forgot that he was cold. Luffy grinned.

"You're probably right!" he said and dashed out (used the CP9 move, 'Soru') to get his coat and was back with it in literally two seconds and was sitting by the table again.

"You didn't have to use 'Soru'…" Robin said sweat-dropping. She shook her head and went back to reading her book.

"Hey Sanji! What's for supper tonight?" Luffy asked the cook.

"It's whatever you get," Sanji said, concentrating on the soup that he was in the process of making. "Though I'm making something especially good for Robin-chwan and Nami-swan and Mira-swan!" the love-cook added turning to look at Robin with heart-shaped eyes.

"Hmm!" said the captain happily. "What are you making Usopp?"

"I'm just trying to figure out how I could upgrade Nami's clima tact…" the sharpshooter/handyman said.

"Oh. Whatcha reading Robin?" Luffy asked the archaeologist next.

"Oh, Ms. Navigator was kind enough to lend me one of her navigational books," she answered, holding up the large novel to show Luffy.

"Hmm, really? Oh well, there's nothing for me to do here then," and with that, the captain got up and left the room. The three crewmates continued on what they were doing until they were sure that he had gone. They all heard his foot steps walking across the deck. Sanji turned around, Usopp set his gadget down and Robin looked up.

"Do ya think he noticed?" Usopp asked.

"I doubt it, he was just getting bored," Sanji stated. Robin sighed gently.

"I didn't really think that he would take it form us… even if we were trying to get him to go and talk to Ms. Navigator," she said. The three sighed all at once. They weren't stupid and they had all noticed the change in Nami since the last island. Even Sanji, who refused to believe his eyes and instinct at first was now convinced (though he still had a hard time accepting it). Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji were some of the oldest members of the crew so they all had had a feeling that this was going to happen and Robin…well, she just had her female instincts. The four of them had been watching the captain and the navigator for the past couple of days. The same routine had been going on. At any meal time, Nami would come to the table and sit down, not looking at the captain, eat her food and leave without saying anything. And whenever they would see each other on the ship or even pass each other, they would do so in mere silence as if they didn't even acknowledge that the other was there. They would notice Luffy staring at his navigator sometimes, but when she would look up, he always turned away and a tint of pink would creep up on the navigator's face. Luffy did act normal around the other crewmembers and Nami attempted to do so too, but they could tell that the navigator was hiding something and that her captain had something to do with it.

The galley door opened again but this time it was Zoro who entered.

"So, how did it go?" he asked. They all just shook their heads.

"This is Luffy we're talking about…" Usopp said. Zoro sat down at the table where Luffy had been sitting.

"That baka…" he growled.

"By the way marimo, since when did you become so interested in things like this?" Sanji asked. Zoro gave the cook a nasty look at the way he had addressed him but then shrugged.

"I just know them longer than you do," he said.

"Really, I just wish they would come to a conclusion about this…it's so awkward…" Usopp said frustrated. For some reason, Zoro glanced at Robin and their eyes met for a second but then they both quickly looked away. "I think they just need a little push…that's all," Usopp continued.

"Yes but, which one?" Robin said. They all considered this question for a moment. They knew that trying to push Luffy without letting him find out their real intent was nearly impossible since he wouldn't catch on and Nami would catch on too quickly and most likely be very upset with them.

"Just let them work it out for now," Zoro said. He really didn't want to mingle in his captain's relationship with the navigator, since he himself was currently having his own…_issues_ to deal with. She was presently sitting right across from him, leaning her head on one of her hands, and staring down at her book that was lying on the table.

Robin closed her eyes and then slowly opened them again. She was feeling tired so she decided to go to her room and lie down for a while until supper. She closed the book and stood up from her chair and walked over to the door.

"I'm sorry cook-san but could you tell someone to come and get me when supper is ready?" she asked Sanji who was more than happy to oblige to her wish. Robin thanked him and smiled and walked out of the galley.

"_I wonder what's wrong with her…"_ Zoro wondered, but didn't really give it much thought afterwards.

------

Robin slowly walked over to her room and entered it then shut the door. She set the book form Nami down on her desk and stumbled into her bed. She couldn't read anymore right at that moment…she couldn't focus. She just lay there, not pulling any covers onto herself and not moving. She stared blankly across her room acknowledging, but not really taking in the objects in front of her. Slowly, they became bleary, the outline of them swaying not staying still. Robin closed her eyes. Her body was slowly beginning to feel weak, all stamina draining out of her…like the times when she had been in close range of sea stone. But this felt worse. Her very bones were aching, burning, and the amount of pressure in her head was implausible. Her hand grasped the sheets on the bed, but no strength went into her fingers. Beads of sweat rolled down her cheeks that looked blushed. She moaned softly, her breath coming in short gapes.

------

"Oh, where's Robin?" Nami asked the cook when she had entered the galley for their meal.

"Nami-swan! Robin-chan said she'd be in her room and she wanted someone to get her when supper was ready," Sanji explained.

"Oh I see, I'll go get her then," Nami said walking out of the galley and to Robin's room. Mira walked in, followed by Luffy, who was closely followed by Chopper and Franky. Zoro and Usopp had stayed in the room waiting for their food for quite a while now. Immediately, the fight over food started which resolved in a nice kick from the cook to the captain and sharpshooter. Mira just laughed as Sanji scolded the men for starting to eat without all of the women at the table, to which Zoro made a comment under his breath about which started another fight between him and the cook. Their drama was stopped however, by the navigator's abrupt entry into the galley. All of the crew looked up to see Nami rush back and slam the door open.

"Copper! Get over here now!" she yelled at the doctor who was taken aback for a second but then got off of his chair.

"What's the matter Nami-san?" Sanji asked, looking a bit worried because of the expression on the navigator's face.

"It's Robin. She's sick…really sick…" she said hurriedly to which Chopper responded in a great speed up the stairs and to Robin's room. Immediately, the rest of the crew followed.

Robin was lying in her bed, her face blushed with the heat of a fever. By the time the crew got there, Chopper was already examining her. Nami stood by the door, telling them to get out and shut it.

"What's wrong with her?" Luffy asked, panicking as he always did in these sorts of situations.

"I don't know," Nami said. "I'm sure…I hope Chopper can do something about it…" she remembered the last time they had approached an island like this one…at that time, it had been her that had been sick. Nami paced around the deck, praying for the best. Robin never got sick, she was always the strong one always an older sister to her. One by one, the rest of the crewmates sat down on the deck, waiting for Chopper's examination to end. For some reason, after Zoro had sat down, his hand grasped Wadoú Ichimonji. He didn't know why…but he did know that some sicknesses brought upon by traveling at sea were deadly.

"_Robin…" _

A few minuets passed and finally the door to Robin's room opened and the small reindeer doctor walked out. They all jumped up and rushed over to him.

"Chopper! What's wrong with Robin?"

"Is she okay?"

Chopper looked up at the crew's anxious faces.

"I think she's alright for now…but I don't know what's wrong with her…I don't know what caused her sudden illness…she needs to sleep and I'll try to find a cure for her as fast as I can…meanwhile, there should always be someone watching her to see if anything changes…"

"I'll do that," Nami said right away.

"Aaaa, Chopper, is there anything I can do?" Sanji asked, looking worried sick about Robin.

"Just bring a bowl of clean and cold water up here…and a small towel…" Chopper said, but before he could even finish his sentence, the cook was off to do whatever he could for the sick lady.

"Chopper, is there anything I can do?" Luffy asked. Chopper smiled (the corners of his mouth twitching).

"No Luffy, um…I'll tell you when I need your help…" he said, slowly trying to push the captain back into the galley.

"Do ya think she'll get better if she eats meat?" Luffy asked the doctor who was now praising himself for pushing the captain as far away from Robin's room as possible.

"Eat? No! She can't even stay awake for more than a few seconds!" Chopper said. Luffy folded his arms.

"It's kindda like that time when Nami was sick…" he mumbled to himself. He glanced over to Robin's room and saw Nami busy trying to help as much as she could. He remembered her so sick and unlike herself that it had made him terribly worried about her. Her face had been blushed just like Robin's was now and she could barley sit up. He recalled carrying her up that snow-capped mountain, her limp form on his back, arms over his shoulders, warm face leaned against the back of his neck, her soft skin occasionally rubbing against the texture of his rough skin….

"Luffy? Are you alright?" Chopper asked, looking at the captain curiously. Luffy snapped back to life and looked down at the doctor.

"So she really can't eat anything…huh?" he said, returning to his normal self. Chopper shook his head again and then retreated to take care of Robin.

------

"Nami…" someone shook her. She groaned."Oi, Nami!" someone said again. This time, Nami raised her head off of her arms that she had been sleeping on and looked up.

"Zoro?" she said, her vision and voice still a bit groggy. The navigator slowly began to stand up, rubbing her eyes in the process. "What are you doing here?" she asked quietly. They were both in Robin's room where she laid, the fever still running its course on her.

"It's my turn to watch her," Zoro answered. Nami nodded.

"Oh, okay…I'll go to my room then…" she began to walk to the door. But before she could walk out, a comment form Zoro stopped her in her tracks.

"Why don't you just tell him?" he said suddenly and unexpectedly. Nami blinked twice and then turned back to look at Zoro. He hadn't said it in a voice that said, "Go and tell him now," but more of a questioning voice. Nami sighed.

"How can I?" she said quietly.

"He cares for you more than anyone else you know," Zoro said, as if Nami already knew this fact. Nami just stared at the swordsman for a few seconds. Then she gave a sighing expression.

"But this is Luffy we're talking about…"

"So what?" Zoro intruded, "He cares enough to risk his life for you…doesn't he deserve to know how you feel about him too?" Nami stared at the swordsman again. Then she frowned.

"I don't really know who you are to be telling me this," she said. She glanced at the sleeping archaeologist. "Doesn't _she_ have the same right then too?" Nami asked. Zoro didn't answer. "She cares too, you know…" and with that, the navigator walked out of the room. Zoro sat down in the chair by Robin's bed and folded his arms and stared at the sleeping woman. She was sleeping with some sense of peace, but that terrible fever was keeping her from doing so completely. Every once in a while, she would stirrer in discomfort, let out a soft groan and turn from one side to the other. Eventually, Zoro decided that he should change the cloth on her forehead since it had been on there for a while. He gently took it off, soaked it in the bowl of water and wrung it out again and carefully set it on Robin's forehead.

"Mr. Swordsman?" Robin muttered suddenly, almost under her breath. Her eyes were still closed but she was obviously awake. Zoro froze for a moment, staring down at her. Robin slowly began to open her eyes which were still quite glassy.

"Robin?" Zoro said a little unsurely. The archaeologist stared up at him.

"What…are you doing here?" she asked, very quietly. Zoro sat back down in the chair.

"It was my turn to look after you," he said simply. "How are you feeling?" he asked. Robin just smiled a bit, as much as circumstances would allow her.

"Like that time…I got struck by lightning in Skypiea…" she said then she coughed. Zoro set a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Robin just smiled.

"I'm…fine…you see…" she said suddenly, "You do get worried…"

The swordsman really didn't know how to respond to this comment, so he just shifted his eyes away from her.

"Mr. Swordsman, can I ask you a question?" the archaeologist asked, "Did you…loose someone close to you…when you were a child?" Robin questioned unexpectedly. Zoro looked back at her. She wasn't looking at him.

"Why do you ask that?" said Zoro, a little taken aback by the suddenness of the question.

Robin paused then said, "What was her name?" Zoro almost fell off of his chair.

"Why…how do you…" he said. Robin just smiled.

"Well…there's that marine girl that you always run away from…because she looks like your friend that died…and that white katana that you always keep more importantly than the rest…" she said. Zoro just started ahead of himself.

"…Her name was Kuina," he started, "and she was my dojoú teacher's daughter…she was an amazing swordswoman and I never could beat her…not even once."

"Never?" Robin asked surprised though she was still very sick. Zoro nodded.

"Yeah, not once. We had 2001 matches but she beat me on all of them…she wanted to be the worlds strongest swordswoman and I wanted to be the worlds strongest swordsman. So we promised each other that one of us would become that. But…" he paused.

"But?"

"She died only a little while after…she fell off the stairs of a storage house," he ended.

"Is that her katana then?" Robin asked about Wadoú Ichimonji. Zoro set a hand on it and nodded.

"I see…why you're so strong now…" Robin said. "You're carrying two people's dreams…" Zoro paused, frowning.

"And, what about you?" he said. Robin looked at him in a questioning manner. "How many people's dreams are you carrying?"

Robin just sighed and answered, "Many…"

There was a silence between them, and the only thing that could be heard was the creaking noises that the ship made and the constant ocean that caused it to sway a little. Other than that, there were no sounds, only silence. Robin shifted a little.

"I haven't been sick in a long time…" she said.

"When was the last time you were sick?" Zoro asked.

Robin just smiled a little and said, "When I was a child…and on the street…I got caught out in the rain for a while…"

Zoro had a hard time picturing Robin as a child and out on the streets by herself. Well, maybe not the 'by herself' part but the rest was so. Then he realized that he knew someone that was like that too.

"..._Like me…I'm like that too…" _he thought subtly to himself.

"Mr. Swordsman…" Robin started a little hesitantly, "I…I wanted to say…about the other day…on the deck…" she paused, "I'm sorry if I sounded…a bit rude…I…I just wanted to know…"

"What are you apologizing for?" Zoro said suddenly. "You're right…" Robin blinked at what he had just said. With some effort, she pushed off her covers and tried to sit up in her bed as well as she could. "Oi, Robin, should you be getting up?" Zoro said.

"I'm just sitting up…" Robin answered. She finally sat up, leaning on one arm. "Mr. Swordsman…may I ask you something?" she asked, staring at him with her large mysterious blue eyes. Zoro gulped. She had never looked at him like that.

"S-sure…" he said, not really sure. _"Why am I feeling nervous? Calm down calm down…it's just Robin…okay, so that's the problem…(man, she's hot…) WHAT AM I THINKING???" _Zoro was desperately attempting to keep his cool, which he was finding hard to do for some unexplainable reason.

"Can you…" she paused, holding her head for a second as if it hurt, but then looked up again. "Would you mind getting me that glass of water?" Zoro almost fell off his chair.

"Yeah, sure," he said almost dully, standing up and walking over to the desk where there was a glass of water. Robin just chuckled. "What?" the swordsman asked, turning to look at her. She smiled at him.

"Did you think I was going to ask you something important?" she said. "Something like, 'Do you like me more than a friend and a nakama?" Zoro froze. Robin just smiled again. "I guess with you…I'm just going to have to find out…Roronoa Zoro" she laid back down in her bad again and covered herself. "I'm going back to sleep…" she muttered and closed her eyes. Zoro continued to stay where he was until Robin had settled. Then he slowly made his way back to the chair.

He stared down at Robin again, but only for a few seconds before he said, "You are…more than that…to me…"

Suddenly, Zoro turned around, his hand on the hilt of one of his swords. He stared at the door. For some reason, he sensed that someone was watching or sneaking around…and it wasn't the captain going after food…it was someone else….

------

"_Demon child Nico Robin…and the demon, Roronoa Zoro…. Hm, this is getting interesting…very, interesting." _

**Okay…so I do apologize because this chapter is full of LuNa and a lot of ZoRo and not much action and all that fun stuff or much about the others. Just hold on though…this chapter does have some significance to the rest of the story. **

**So, once again, a big thanks to everyone who reviews and I would appreciate it again for this chapter!! **


	6. Chapter 6: A Coverlet of Snow

**Arts of the Ocean**

**Disclaimer: Honestly, I don't own One Piece (sob). It belongs to Oda sensei!**

**A Coverlet of Snow**

Robin's fever started to slowly decrease after a couple of days of Chopper giving her medicine that he thought would help. It was slow progression, but the Straw Hats were just thankful that they had a doctor on the ship that seemed to be able to cure any sickness (Of course, when they would tell him this, he would get a big shy grin on his face and do a funny dance and call you names). With that, the archaeologist was beginning to eat a little more and even get up and walk around her room. It had been a strange illness, as Chopper said, as he himself really didn't know what had caused it and it had come upon her so sudden, but it had also started to go away quite quickly too.

Apart from Robin's illness, the only other thing that had been unexpected was the length of their voyage. Nami had first predicted that they would be there in five days since the time Luffy had asked. In actuality, their travels were a lot slower than they thought would be. First of all, the nice strong wind that was constantly blowing was aiming right at their sails from the front, fighting against the Thousand Sunny, as if it didn't want the ship to go any further. Then there was the strange current which seemed to try to send the ship in the other direction and gave the navigator quite a turn at first until she figured out how to carefully avoid it.

"It's like everything…all the weather and the water is trying to keep us from reaching the next island," Nami said. She was standing at the front of the ship with her binoculars, looking for the island that they were supposed have been at a long time ago. Just then, the shipwright walked passed her, carrying a box of tools.

"Oi Nami, do ya see anything yet?" Franky asked as he walked passed. Nami just frowned and shook her head.

"Nothing yet…" she answered.

"Heyyy, Namiiiii…are we there yet?" another whiny voice joined in, which belonged to the sharpshooter.

"No, not yet…" Nami answered again.

"Nami! Are we almost there?" an excited voice asked which belonged to the little reindeer-doctor. A vain popped in the navigator's temple.

"NO!" she yelled. "Do I look like I'm the queen over the seas?!"

The three just looked at each other and shrugged and then walked away, mainly because the navigator had not been in good spirits for the past while.

"Nami seems really grumpy lately…I mean, grumpier than usual…" Chopper whispered to the other two as they all walked away.

"Yeah I know. Wonder why she hasn't been feelin' so super lately?" Franky said. Usopp just shook his head.

"Whacha guys doing?" a voice came suddenly. Mira ran up to them from behind with a grin on her face and a pencil and sketchbook in her hands.

"Hey Mira," Franky said. "We're not really doing anything now…what about you?"

"Oh, I was just drawing some stuff…actually, I was sketching the ship and I realized how amazingly it's built," the artist said. Franky grinned.

"Yup! It's the best ship in the Grand Line…and all the other seas!!" he said proudly.

"I can tell…and I heard that it was your mentor that built the last pirate king's ship…the Oro Jackson?" Mira said.

"How did you know that?" the shipwright asked surprised. Mira smiled.

"I had a relative that was at Water 7 at the time…it was and still is a famous story," she said.

"Hmm, you had a relative at Water 7?" Usopp asked.

Mira nodded and answered, "Yup! I heard the story when I was a kid…Gold Roger, the Pirate King and his ship, the Oro Jackson, the only man and ship to every travel the entire Grand Line!!" she said dramatically as if she were saying an introductory for a story.

"Hmm, I didn't know you were so obsessed with that too," the sharpshooter said.

Mira grinned and answered, "Of course! I'm a pirate! I mean, it's a story…a legend that even the marines are awed by!" At this point, Chopper was already in awe himself.

"Wow!! I heard that Gold Roger was an amazing pirate, the way Luffy talks about him, but I didn't know he was that amazing!" the little doctor said. Mira continued to grin.

"Yup! He sure was! And I heard so many stories about him what I was a kid," she said.

Chopper jumped up like an excited kid and said, "Really? Can you tell us some?" Mira nodded happily and started on her stories with Usopp, Chopper and even Franky listening.

------

"Oi Zoro, get me that plate there," the cook ordered the swordsman. Zoro grunted and handed Sanji the plate off the table. Sanji stuck it in the sink, letting it soak in the soapy dish water. Then he stuck his cigarette in the ash tray and lit another one. Zoro just sat by the wall, trying to doze off.

"So Zoro," Sanji started. Zoro glanced up at the cook with surprise and suspicion. Why was Sanji talking to him?

"What?" Zoro grunted. The cook exhaled a puff of smoke.

"You've finally become interested in more than swords I see," he said. Zoro froze inside himself. Was he talking about what he thought he was talking about?

"What the heck are you talking about?" the swordsman asked, trying to sound clueless.

Sanji just let out another puff of smoke and said, "You know what I'm talking about…she's tall and beautiful, with black hair and blue eyes…" Zoro froze again, but this time it was almost visible. The cook wasn't looking at him, but it was obvious what Zoro was thinking. When Zoro didn't answer, Sanji smirked and said, "See, I thought so…especially after the other night with you and her…"

"I was just watching her because it was my turn!" Zoro argued stubbornly. The smirk didn't leave the cook's face.

"Yeah, and then you guys were talking…and it wasn't about books, history or swords…"

"You were eavesdropping?" Zoro said, getting frustrated.

"Na," Sanji said, "I was just guessing…but you just gave me the answer…" Zoro was ready to kick the crap out of the blonde-haired cook. "Truth is, I was just seeing if Nami-san was still watching Robin 'cause she hadn't slept for a while…and being the gentleman I am…" (at this point, Zoro rolled his eyes), "I simply wanted to see to it that she got some rest…but it seems that you didn't forget about your shift…"

"So it was you who was sneaking around…" Zoro muttered, remembering how he had sensed someone else walking around.

"So how's it going?" the cook asked suddenly. Zoro just raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" he asked, completely confused.

"Come on you baka, you and Robin-chan! How is it going?" he asked as if it were an obvious question, "Are you officially together? Has she told you how she feels? Have you told her how you feel?" he continued. Zoro was completely blown away for two reasons. One, because Sanji wasn't mad at him for liking Robin and two, the cook was almost encouraging him in the relationship and almost…_excited_ about it. So, not knowing how to respond, Zoro just shrugged.

"Okay marimo, listen up," Sanji said sitting down in one of the chairs, facing the swordsman who was getting really ticked off. "The first thing you do," he started as if he were a coach of a sports team, "is to let her know how you feel…and make sure that you're nice to her…treat her special, you know, chivalry," he said to Zoro, making sure that the swordsman understood. Zoro hated to admit it, but he was actually listening to the love-cook. The swordsman figured that Sanji knew more about women than he did…maybe. "You got that?" the coach continued. Zoro just grunted. "And the second thing…" however, Sanji never got to finish his sentence because he was interrupted by the captain walking into the galley.

"Hey guys! Whatcha doing?" Luffy asked grinning. Zoro just scratched his head.

"Maybe this kid wants to sit in on this lecture too…" he said to Sanji. Sanji just shook his head.

"There is no way…"

"What're you guys talking about?" the captain asked curiously again. Sanji stood up and walked in front of Luffy, exhaled deeply and set a hand on his shoulder.

"Luffy Luffy Luffy…" he said as if he were about to break a horrible reality to him, "You are finally becoming of age, so I guess you might as well be filled in on the realities of life…" Luffy just stared at him confused.

"What?"

"I mean…" Sanji started but couldn't finish his sentence again since he was interrupted by the navigator's voice from the deck.

"Land in sight!!" she shouted. With that, everyone rushed up to the deck to see.

"Yeah! An island!" Luffy shouted.

"Do ya know what the island's name is?" Mira asked the navigator. Nami just shook her head.

"Not much is known about this island 'cause its not an easy place to get to and I don't think that anyone lives on it…"

"Awww, then there's no meat store?" Luffy muttered disappointedly.

"We'll be there soon…everyone, get ready to dock!" she ordered. Immediately, all the crew members flew to their stations and did as the navigator had told them. At that moment, Robin came out of her room, looking around.

"Are we docking soon?" she asked Nami. The navigator nodded.

"Yup! Hey Robin, do you know anything about this island by any chance?" The archaeologist tilted her head a little, thinking.

"I've heard a legend…about a winter island around these parts…"

"A legend?" Nami asked curiously. Robin nodded.

"Yes…it's just a legend but apparently, every pirate that's landed on that island has never come back…they say that they just mysteriously disappear."

The navigator stared at the snow-covered island for a while and then sighed.

"Well, let's just hope that the legend isn't true…or that this isn't that island…"

------

"It's freezing!" Usopp said, hugging his coat closer to himself, his teeth chattering. Chopper ran around, feeling at home with all the snow and cold weather, occasionally rolling in the white powder on the ground. The Thousand Sunny had docked and the crew was getting off of the ship, ready to explore the island (well, at least Luffy was). They all stood around wearing large heavy jackets and shivering. Even Zoro who usually wanted to prove that he could take anything was shivering and muttering about how cold he was.

"Okay guys…let's split up into two groups…" Nami started. "Um, first group…Usopp, Chopper…and Franky…"

"Three?" Usopp said in disbelief.

"Yeah, because you guys are just going to go and check out that mountain over there," the navigator said, pointing at the tallest mountain on the island.

"WHAT???" the shipwright, sharpshooter and doctor all yelled together.

"But the rest of us should check that forest out…and there's more of us since there's a lot of land to cover," Nami explained. It didn't really help take the frowns off the three unhappy crewmates though. "Actually, Sanji-kun, could you go with them too?"

"Hai! Nami-swan!" the cook replied enthusiastically though he did seem a little disappointed that none of the girls were with him. "Oi! You idiots," addressing Franky, Chopper and Usopp, "Let's get going." And with that, the four crewmates began on their journey up the mountain.

"Well, let's go too," Nami said to Luffy, Zoro, Robin and Mira and they all began to walk towards the vast forest that was located in the center of the island.

------

"It's sooooo cold!!" Usopp kept complaining.

"Really?" Chopper said. "It's not really…"

"Stop saying it's cold…it'll just make things worse," Sanji told Usopp.

"Really, I don't know why we have to climb…I think that woman just didn't want to herself," Franky mumbled, earning a kick from the cook.

"Stop whining old man!" Sanji said.

"Ha? You said something shrimp?" Franky said back. The two continued arguing while Usopp attempted to stop them.

"Hey guys!" Chopper shouted suddenly. The other three turned to look at the reindeer.

"What's up?" Sanji asked. Chopper pointed towards their right where he had spotted a small opening in the mountain.

"It's a cave," the doctor said.

"Are…are we going in?" Usopp asked trying not to think of what sort of creatures might be living in there.

"Of course," Sanji said walking over towards the opening, "Nami-san asked us to scout the place…" and with that, he walked right into the dark cave. Franky followed him, then Chopper, then finally Usopp.

"G-guys…" Usopp started, trying to calm his shaky voice.

"What?"

"I d-don't have a good feeling about this…"

"Whatever…"

------

"Man…this is strange!" Luffy said, taking his jacket off. He was almost sweating with it on. As soon as the five had entered the forest, the temperature had changed. There was no snow or ice on the ground, and no wind. The inside of the forest was lush green, and had a feeling of summer to it. The others followed Luffy and took their heavy jackets and coats off too.

"What's going on?" Zoro asked.

"Honestly, I don't know," Nami admitted which was unusual for her. She was stunned, just as the rest of them were. "Robin, do you know anything about this?" The archaeologist just shook her head.

"Ah, I get it!" Luffy shouted pounding his fist on his palm, "It's a mystery forest!!" Nami just put a hand on her face and shook her head.

"_And this is the man that I lo__…" _she stopped before she thought the last word to herself, blushing furiously.

"Come on!" Mira said from the head of the group. She was already way ahead of them. Luffy gladly obliged and started to run, with the other three following, the navigator in the rear of the group. For some reason, she couldn't shake off a strange feeling about this place, and that feeling wasn't a good one either.

"Are you okay Ms. Navigator?" Robin turned around and asked. Nami nodded slowly.

"Oi, Nami…there's something wrong…isn't there?" Zoro, who had been walking besides Robin turned around and asked in a low voice. The navigator nodded slowly.

"Yeah…" she started. Zoro and Robin were both looking at her. Nami looked up at them. "Something's just off here…really off…and I don't have a good feeling about it…"

------

"Hey! Stop shoving me!" The cook shouted.

"Yo! That was my foot you idiot!!" Franky yelled.

"Oh, sorry…"

"EEEEEEEK!! Something's poking me!!" screamed Chopper.

"That's my nose Chopper!" Usopp told him.

"Stop it then!"

"I can't help that you wanted to change into your giant form!"

"I didn't want anyone to step on me!!"

As predicted, the cave journey wasn't going so 'super' as Franky would say. The only source of light that was present was Sanji's matches and cigarette light and Usopp's flame dials but the rest was pitch-black. And of course, they were having a hard time finding their way through the tunnel.

"That's it!" Sanji said finally. "Oi, Franky, give us some light in here for a second."

"Super!" the cyborg said and, standing in front of Sanji. He then opened his mouth and blew out flames. For a couple of seconds, the entire area was visible so that the four crewmates could see what was around them. The ceiling of the cave was covered in roots from trees and spider webs, and there was the occasional rock on the ground. But besides that, there was nothing really much. They decided to walk a little more. Five minuets passed. Ten minuets…twenty-five…forty….

"Hey…is that a light?" Usopp asked, looking a head of them. It was indeed a bluish-white light, the end of the cave.

"Yeah!!" Chopper shouted. The four of them practically bolted towards the exit. They were back in the snow again, but this time, they really didn't care.

"Ugh! That was creepy!" Usopp said shuddering.

"Shut up, it was just a cave," Sanji said while lighting another cigarette. "So," he started, exhaling the smoke, "Where are we?"

They seemed to be up fairly high in the mountains and nothing but a snow-covered valley that was completely surrounded by steep mountains was below them.

"I donno but maybe we should check that out down there…" Franky said, pointing towards the valley.

"Agreed," the cook simply said.

"Oi…" Usopp moaned in disbelief.

Chopper added by saying, "I see a small path that leads down there!"

"Not you too!!" the sharpshooter's disbelief grew. The cook, shipwright and doctor all began down the path. "Okay fine! Wait for me!!"

"Careful, it steep!" Franky warned the men behind him.

Sanji added, "And slippery…"

"Hey guys! Listen up for a second! I've really…oops!!" Usopp yelled as he almost slipped and fell.

"Are you okay Usopp?" Chopper turned around and asked.

"I'm okay…but guys! Listen, I don't have a good feeling about this!" the sharpshooter shouted to the others.

"You've been saying that forever," Sanji told him.

However, Usopp just shook his head and said, "No, I mean it! Something's not righhhhhhhhht!!" at that moment, some of the lose stones under Usopp's feel gave away and he slipped off the side, taking Chopper who had been standing right in front of him with him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" they both screamed as they slid down the mountain.

"USOPP!! CHOPPER!!" Sanji and Franky both yelled after them. They didn't stop sliding and in no time, they had reached the bottom of the mountain. The two who had not slid down with them tried to hurry and get down the mountain as quick as they both could but something stopped them in there tracks. They heard other voices approaching. They weren't coming near Franky and Sanji, but near Chopper and Usopp who apparently were both unconscious at the foot of the mountain.

"Hey! Look! There they are!" someone shouted. Sanji spotted a couple of boulders closer to the bottom and motioned to Franky to go there. They both quickly and quietly ran down towards them and hid behind, watching.

"They're maries!" Franky whisper-shouted in surprise. "What are they doin' here?" at least half a dozen of them came to scout the source of yelling. "We'd better get them out!" Franky said, already ready to attack.

"No! Wait!" Sanji said stopping him. "We don't know how many there are…even if we attack now and do get Usopp and Chopper back, then how are we supposed to find the others to tell them? We only know that they're in the forest but there's no assurance that we'll find them in time!" Franky thought of this for a second then agreed.

"Fine…" he said, "But what about them?" he asked, pointing towards the two who were now surrounded by marines.

"Well, luckily, they only know Usopp as 'Sogeking' and Chopper's bounty is only 50 berries…they'll know that we're here now but we have to find the others first and then go to save them. They'll be fine until then," he said turning around to find a way to get out of the valley.

"You know something I just realized…" Franky said suddenly.

"What's that?"

"I'm not a hundred percent sure but I think that the cave that we came through is the only entrance to this valley…the other mountains and cliffs are too steep…" Sanji looked around too and saw that Franky was probably right.

"Yeah…" he started slowly, "That is strange…"

_To Be Continued_

------

**So, that was that! I know that the scenes change a lot in this chapter but please bear with me. **

**Oh, and BTW, I always like reviews!!**

**------**

**Some frequent reviewers that I would like to thank! **

**Kurumi-chan:** Thanks so much for reading and reviewing all the time! I'm encouraged by your enthusiastic comments and always look forward to them!

**Phoenixblood:** Wow!! I think you've read and reviewed every chapter! Thank you very very much and I'm always encouraged by your reviews.

**Blknblupanther1:** Oh Yeah!! Zoro/Robin!! I love this pairing too! (duh) Thanks for your reviews. I appreciate them a lot!

**CrazyGirlofManyNames: **You've reviewed every chapter!! Thank you for always taking time to R&R!!

**TheShamanMaster: **Thanks for supporting this story! I'm always grateful for your comments.


	7. Chapter 7: Trust No One

**Arts of the Ocean**

**Disclaimer: It's probably a good thing that the great Oda sensei owns One Piece and not me!! **

**Trust No One**

"Hey! I recognize this one…" the marine said, pointing at the unconscious Chopper, "That's one of the Straw Hat's…"

"How did he get here though?" another questioned. They were staring at two people on the ground that were unconscious and discussing what to do with them.

"This one might be apart of their crew too," a marine said about Usopp.

"What should we do then?"

"Take them away and lock them up," a commander ordered.

"Yes sir!" the others answered, picking the two off of the ground and carrying them away.

"Don't worry…the others will be joining them soon too…" the commander said.

------

"We have to get to the others…fast!" Sanji shouted running as fast as he could down the mountain.

"I know!" Franky yelled back. After the two had got back up the hill and through the cave, they had started to run as fast as they could towards the forest that Nami had said that the rest of the crew would be in.

"I just hope that Nami-san, Robin-chan and Mira-san are alright..." the cook said.

Franky sweat-dropped and said, "Oi…"

------

"Is there really nothing here?" Zoro said after a while. They had all been walking around the mysterious forest for about two or three hours now with nothing interesting happening. Only that the forest itself looked like a rain forest or a jungle and there was not even a spot of winter in it.

"I've never even heard of this sort of climate before," Robin said.

"I know…me neither…" Nami agreed.

"Hey guys…" Luffy started but no one heard.

"I'm tired…" Zoro grumbled.

"Shut up, I'm trying to think," Nami said.

"Hey…guys…" the captain said again. No one was paying attention.

"Hey, let's rest for a second," Mira suggested.

Nami growled, "Fine! Do what ever you want!"

"HEY! GUYS!" Luffy shouted suddenly. Everyone looked at him.

"What's wrong Luffy?" Nami asked.

"Um…well, I noticed but there aren't any insects or anything living in this forest…just trees and grass…" the captain said.

"So…?"

"It's so boring!" the captain complained. Everyone sweat dropped.

"Come to think about it," Robin started, "I haven't seen any of the sort either. It's like there's nothing living on this island except for trees and grass."

"What are you saying Robin?" Nami asked. The archaeologist glanced around her for a moment in thought. However, all of their trails of thought were broken when they heard footsteps approaching. Immediately, Zoro's hand shifted to his katanas, Nami's to her clima-tact, and the others got ready to fight if they needed to.

"Oi! Guys! It's just us!" Sanji's voice came. Everyone relaxed as the cook and shipwright came into sight.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Where's Usopp and Chopper?" Nami asked, looking around for the other two. Sanji set his hands on his knees for a second to catch his breath since him and Franky had been running the whole way.

"Usopp and Chopper…got taken by the marines…" Sanji said between his short gaps pf breath.

"WHAT?" the others exclaimed.

"Yeah, there's a whole bunch of them on this island," Franky added.

"We have to go get them!" Luffy yelled, trying to run, but was stopped by Nami who had grabbed the back of his shirt collar to stop him.

"Not so fast," she said. "Sanji-kun, do you know where they took them?"

"No, we were only climbing down the mountain and into a valley and those two slipped and stumbled down and then the marines came…we didn't see where they came from," he explained.

"Perhaps they have a base here," Robin suggested.

"If that's the case, then we've just landed on one of the worst places we could have landed," Zoro said, folding his arms.

"How could we have though? The map I read didn't say anything about this island having a marine base on it," Nami pointed out.

"Are you sure?"

In an instant, there was a sound of three swords being pulled out and something clashing into them. There was a moment's confusion and then silence. Everyone stared at the scene in front of them, trying to comprehend it. Zoro had his three katanas pulled out and crossed in front of himself, shielding himself from a sudden attack from Mira.

"You're quick Roronoa…" Mira said looking up at him, "But you won't be able to beat me…"

"What's going on Mira-san?!" Sanji asked.

"You're next," Mira told Sanji, giving him a sudden glare. She pulled something that looked like two bracelets out of her pocket and tossed them up in the air. They floated there for a second, then split up and shot towards Luffy, Robin at a great speed and collided with each of them. The next thing they knew, the captain, archaeologist and were on the ground, panting with the bracelets tight around their wrists.

"Aaaa, why do I feel so weak?" Luffy mumbled as all of his strength left him, lying on the ground.

"Sea…stone…" Robin said.

"What's going on Mira?" Nami yelled, demanding an answer and pulling out her Perfect Clima-Tact. Franky was also getting his Beans-Left attack ready though with a slight hesitation to the situation.

"At least be thankful that I'm the one who will defeat you," Mira said to Zoro, ignoring Nami's question and the weapons that were being pointed at her.

"Why?" Zoro growled.

"'cause I'm not a swordswoman…at least you won't have that shame…" she answered. Zoro glared at her.

"Oni-giri!" he said as he preformed his attack.

"Sorú," Mira muttered as she preformed her move. Zoro's attack just skimmed Mira as she moved out of the way, super-speed.

"You really think you could get me with that?" she asked, standing right behind the swordsman, a dagger in her hand.

"Franky! Do something!" Nami yelled at the shipwright.

"I can't without blowing Zoro away too!" he yelled back. Nami grit her teeth and ran over to Zoro and Mira.

"Someone! Get Luffy and Robin's sea-stone off of them!" she yelled.

"Useless…" Mira muttered and with that, she reached around and plunged her dagger right into Zoro's stomach from behind him where she was standing.

"Zoro! Why didn't you move?" Sanji yelled. Nami stopped in her tracks and Mira pulled the dagger out of him and Zoro fell to his knees, his front drenched in blood.

"Couldn't…move…she's using her powers…" he said.

"Mr. Swordsman!" Robin yelled with as much energy as she could muster, as she tried to pull the sea stone bracelet off but failing.

"That's right…just stay like that for a while…" Mira muttered and turned to Sanji and Franky. Immediately as she moved away from Zoro, Franky shot at her with his Beans-Left but missed because she had used 'Sorú' again and appeared right in front of Sanji. She kicked, but of course, it was counterattacked by Sanji's kick.

"Mira-san…what are you doing?" Sanji asked seriously. Mira lowered her leg and stared at the cook for a second.

"You'll…" and with that, she appeared behind him, after having punched him in the gut, "see…" she finished as Sanji began to feel the effects and doubled over. Then she turned around and kicked him on his side, sending him skidding across the ground.

"Franky! Move out of the way!" Nami's voice came. A small dark thunder-cloud was formed between her Perfect Clima-Tact. The cyborg did as she said and Nami sent the cloud towards Mira. The cloud shot through the air and hit Mira square in the back and she fell over.

"Got her!" Nami said to herself.

"Nami! Get away from there!" Franky yelled at her. Nami looked at him puzzled but then suddenly felt her Clima-Tact leave her fingers and a hand around her throat.

"That's a vicious weapon…" a voice said behind her. Nami choked. No, impossible…there was no way…but then she looked closer at the figure that was lying on the ground and saw that it was beginning to fade.

"You forget…I'm an artist…if I concentrate the atmosphere around a certain part with my powers, I can even draw on it," she said. The navigator was losing air…and just as she thought she would stop breathing, Mira threw her on the ground. Luffy saw this, and despite of the sea stone that he couldn't get off, he became somewhat alert.

"Nami!" he said, wanting more than anything right at that moment to help her…however, circumstances wouldn't allow that as his energy kept on draining out of his body. Mira glanced at Luffy for a second and turned around.

"Strong-Right!" Franky's fist came flying at the artist. Then setting the hilt of her dagger in her mouth, with the agility of a cat she leaped into the air and landed next to Franky who shot at her again. She flipped backwards, out of the attack.

"Coup de vent!" Franky shouted as he sent an invisible canon towards her. There was an enormous blast, and a great wind with it. However, when everything had cleared, it appeared that the artist had been unharmed.

"That won't work on me," she said and raised her hand, apparently putting him in an invisible lock as she had done with Zoro so that he too couldn't move. She turned around and did the same to the rest of the crew who were all lying on the ground. Mira walked over to the captain who was barely conscious because of the effect the sea stone was having on him.

"All eight Straw Hats down…mission complete," she said.

"Mission?" Luffy repeated panting.

"Of course…" she said. "It was a mission…an order to me that said, 'Enter the Straw Hat crew and to lead them to this island and restrain them,' and I completed that…"

"You piece of…" Zoro began but couldn't finish because of his loss of blood.

"I know…" Mira began sitting down on the ground, "It's a horrible story, isn't it? A supposedly innocent girl just _happens_ to meet up with a powerful pirate crew that she welcomes, she's so nice to them and then they decide to let her join their crew. She _seems _to have this dilemma in whether she should join or not but her friend convinces her because she made sure that everyone around her knew what she wanted…or supposedly wanted. So with that excuse, she joins and gains the trust of the crew and even _fought_ for them. But there were a couple of problems…first, she had to find out each crew member's weaknesses and strengths. Then she had to find out about their relationships with each other. A couple of them were obvious…" at this point, Mira looked at Nami and then to Luffy, "But a couple of them were less so…" she glanced at Robin and then at Zoro, "And there was also the obstacle of being watched by those crewmates who didn't trust her…because one of them could sense when people were sneaking around and another _was _constantly watching her with her powers…so, naturally, she had to something about it, at least for a little while so she decided to drop a mild poison into one of their drinks…coffee, to be specific."

"That was…you?" Robin asked.

"Of course," Mira answered. "You see, the girl couldn't kill the person that was spying on her yet, but she just wanted enough time to be able to collect information on the ship without being followed…and to be able to switch the ship's navigator's log-pose with an eternal-pose which would lead the ship to this specific island."

"Eternal…pose?" Nami said, disbelievingly.

"I know, surprising right? It's an eternal-pose which is disguised to look like a log-pose. The government came up with them to sell to pirates so that their ships would head straight into traps."

"Government?" Sanji said. Mira made one of his cigarettes and matches come floating towards her and she grabbed them. Then she calmly lit the match and then the cigarette.

"Smoking isn't good for you, you know," she said as she inhaled it as Sanji always did and then exhaled a small puff of smoke. "But even if you know it won't be helping your lungs in the long-run, you still don't stop…"

"What are you trying to say?" Sanji asked.

"You would never think that a top-ranking assassin-girl from the World Government would be living in a Government-hating town…would you?" Mira said, exhaling smoke again. A dead silence followed.

"You're from the government?" Robin eventually said.

"Of course, Nico Robin. But you suspected me all along anyways so that shouldn't be too shocking to you. I mean, you're a little on edge about spies sneaking in since Water 7 and the whole Enies Lobby ordeal. And you knew that if the government were to do something like that, then they would send someone who was actually strong…not like those CP9 idiots."

"So you're going to betray us!? Just like that!?" Nami yelled.

"No, it's not just like that," Mira said in her phlegmatic manner, "It took a lot of planning and risk-taking…so it wasn't just like that." She stood up. "Don't take this personally…your crew is just one of the many that have been my targets. Just another…"

"You…can betray people that easily…without even changing your facial expression…you are a witch!" Nami yelled.

"Yeah, you're right. I am. But if I were you, I wouldn't be talking…weren't you one of Arlong's pirates a while ago?" she reminded Nami who gritted her teeth.

"Hey!! Don't talk about Nami like that!!" Luffy yelled as much as he could. Despite the situation, Nami couldn't help but blush just a little.

"So innocent…" Mira shook her head and looked at Luffy, "Unlike your father." Luffy just stared up at Mira and Mira just stared back. Suddenly there was a sound of foot steps from many people and they all saw dozens of marines coming.

"Well done Mira-sama," one of the captains said, saluting her. ('Sama' is put on the end of a name of a person that is highly respected or that you hold in high regard)

"Whatever…" Mira muttered as she walked over to them. She handed the captain a thick roll of paper.

"This is to show the completion of the mission which includes information about each of the Straw Hat's, their history, family lines, acquaintances, strengths, weaknesses, ambitions…"

"Ambitions?" the captain questioned.

"Yes, ambitions. Do not underestimate the ambition of a person Captain…many people do, and fall by it," she said. The captain just nodded. "And I also included diagrams of their ship, the Thousand Sunny." She pulled out another piece of paper. "And make sure that this gets to Admiral Aokiji. It's a mission completion statement," she said and handed it to him.

"Yes Mira-sama!" he said saluting her again.

"Do you have the other two in the compound already?" she asked.

"Yes, one of them is believed to be Tony Tony Chopper and the other…"

"Is 'Soge-king', yes I know," Mira said broadly. She walked passed the marines to the direction that they had come from.

"I'm leaving…I'm tired. I leave the rest to you," she said and walked off. "I'm sure you at least know how to restrain people." The marines began restraining the pirates, one by one, though some seemed afraid to even approach them (especially Franky because he would try to bite at them). They ruthlessly made Zoro stand up and bound him with chins although he was severely injured and was having a hard time walking because of the loss of blood. They didn't treat the rest of them with much sympathy either. The marines made the pirates stand up and walk out of the forest, back into the icy winter climate and towards their base.

------

"Oh look, we each get our own cells…how thoughtful of them…" Sanji thought sarcastically as the marines led them into a large room which was lined with individual cells on either sides of the walls. The cells were made out of thick round bars, obviously sea stone, so that every angle of every cell was visible. There were already two occupants in these though. Usopp was sitting in one of the cells near the center and Chopper in another. They first threw Sanji into the first cell on the right, then Franky on the left across from it, then Zoro on the second right, Robin on the second left, then came Usopp and Chopper, then Nami on the fourth right and Luffy on the fourth left. The marines left.

"Oi! What are you guys doing here?" Usopp yelled, panicking.

"Where's Mira?" Chopper asked. The others didn't say anything. At that moment, Zoro collapsed on the ground.

"Zoro!!" they yelled.

"I'm…fine…" he said stubbornly, "It's…nothing…"

"Mr. Swordsman…" Robin whispered more to herself than anyone else, watching him from across the cell. Zoro managed to sit up and leaned his back against the bars of his cell.

"You baka marimo," Sanji said to Zoro so that only he could hear.

"What?" Zoro said angrily, despite his condition.

"You're making Robin-can worried," the cook said. Zoro looked over to Robin's cell and saw that she was staring at him intensely, obviously worried. He gave her one of those Zoro-ish smiles that would sometimes show. She gave him a small worried smile back.

"I'm hungry…" Luffy complained from his cell.

"Luffy…I don't this is the time to be thinking about…" Usopp started but couldn't finish because Nami's yells interrupted him.

"HOW ON EARTH CAN YOU BE THINKING ABOUT FOOD NOW?! YOU IDIOT! There's no one out there who will save us, you guys can't even move now and we're surrounded by marines, commanders, captains, vice-admirals, admirals…and an assassin girl that seems to be nearly invincible! How can you be so calm?!" the navigator yelled. Luffy just shrugged.

"I don't care…it doesn't fill my stomach." Nami just gave up.

"You seem awfully lax for the situation that you're currently in," a voice came from the entrance. The pirates turned around to see Mira standing there, dressed in thigh-high black boots, shorts that were black, a white tank-top and a trench coat that was also black and lined with silver. She was also accompanied by a man who seemed to be a high ranking marine.

"Okay guys, what is going on?" Usopp asked, trying to analyze the situation. Mira just ignored anything and walked over to Luffy's cell. The man that was with her, pulled out a ring of keys and opened the door. They both stepped in and closed the door behind them.

"So, you are the infamous pirate, Straw Hat Luffy…Monkey D. Luffy…we would like to know a few things, if you don't mind," the man said the last part slightly mockingly. The brim of Luffy's straw hat covered his eyes and he didn't say anything. "My, you do have one troublesome family…Vice-Admiral Garp, Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Dragon…and now we've also found out that you have a history with Red-Haired Shanks, and your brother is under White-Beard…you do have a lot of connections…but at this moment, we're only interested in one person…" the man pulled out a cigar and lit it, "Your father, Dragon. We'd like to know more about him, about his recent whereabouts, his plans, his connections…"

"How would I know?" Luffy said.

"You're his son, I' sure he's had some connection with you in the past while."

"No," Luffy answered simply. The other Straw Hats knew the same…Luffy hadn't been in contact with Dragon…heck, Luffy didn't even know that he was his father until a while ago! The man just stared at Luffy for a while.

Then he shouted, "Guards!" two marines came in. "Take him downstairs," the guards came into Luffy's cell and made him stand up and walk out of it and through the door.

"Where are you taking him?" Nami shouted suddenly. The man and Mira turned to look at her.

"Don't worry missy, I'm sure your captain can withstand a little bit of pain…right?" he said. Nami gritted her teeth.

"You're torturing him for information that he doesn't have?" Robin said.

"Nico Robin, I'm sure that you of all people know how this procedure works," he said.

"Of course," Robin answered, "You already know that he doesn't have the information, but you try to get it out of him saying "just incase" when all you're doing is torturing him before executing him."

"At this level, yes. This is surpassing the CP9 level already, a society that was supposedly non-existent…which naturally means that this base is also non-existent. What goes on here isn't known to the rest of the world," he said.

"You _are_ all cowards," Zoro said. The man turned to him.

"Mira-sama, it doesn't look like you hurt him enough, he's still trying to insult us," the man said. Mira just glanced at Zoro and began to walk towards the door.

"I'm leaving," she said and disappeared though it. The man followed her but stopped before exiting the door.

"What rank are you?" Robin asked. The man just grinned slightly.

"Vice-Admiral," he said and left. The door locked behind him.


End file.
